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Dear Mr Martin,
PeoplePower Blue Mountains notes with warm approval your opposition last year to the proposal to sell electricity retailers and lease electricity generators.
When he ascended to the leadership of the NSW Parliamentary ALP caucus Nathan Rees indicated that he would support a ‘revised’ plan to sell off electricity assets
We note with dismay that not only will the so-called revised plan include the sale of electricity retailers; it will also include the sale of the generator trading rights.
As NSW Treasury, who have been pushing this anti-democratic policy all along, stated at Budget Estimates prior to the mini-budget last year, the purchaser of the generator trading rights will also purchase the rights to make significant decisions on the day to day operation of electricity generation plants (such as Wallerawang and Mt Piper).
Decisions such as maintenance, staffing, industrial relations, production levels and investment will all be taken from the state owned Delta Electricity and given to a private (and highly likely overseas owned) operator.
This is not alarmist rhetoric; this is a matter of public record from the former head of treasury, John Pierce, along with other senior treasury officials, under oath before budget estimates last year.
As you can well imagine, this new plan, put together by Infrastructure Minister Joe Tripodi, will be anathema to the substantial number of power workers and their families that live and vote in your electorate.
What the workers in the industry, and consumers of Country Energy and Integral Energy want is a clear statement that you oppose the sell off of their assets.
At no stage prior to the 2007 election was this proposal canvassed from the electors of Bathurst. Your stated opposition to the Tripodi Plan will provoke a ringing endorsement of yourself from the people of the Bathurst electorate come the next election.
If, however, you support this endeavour by Mr Tripodi to sell off the electricity retailers and the generator trading rights, PeoplePower Blue Mountains would like to invite you to publicly enunciate the reasons for your support for the Tripodi plan at a forum in the Lithgow district at your earliest convenience.
Our many members in the Bathurst Electorate are very curious to understand your position and we will be promoting your position with a great deal of visibility over the next few years.
We look forward to a response that indicates that you have chosen your electorate over Joe Tripodi and the NSW Treasury who, after all, do not have a vote in the seat of Bathurst.
Yours sincerely,
Liam Mitchell,
Convenor, PeoplePower Blue Mountains
29 March 2009
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Dear Sir
Thank you for your recent correspondence in relation to my stand on ownership of electricity in New South Wales. People of the Bathurst Electorate have had a very clear position on this issue from day one.
Yours Faithfully
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