Mood:
incredulousTopic: nsw govt
We submit 2 recent Sydney Daily Telegraph front pagers tell a story of big power and money politics, which at source is the desire of many vested interests to privatise the $15B publicly owned power industry.
Here we write to Mark Byrne of Public Interest Advocacy Centre on the day of the first front pager above, which was followed by a balancer from the ALP Left which seems to be wise to the disaggregation gambit from the Right. These folks do play rough. Very rough. Life and death when you distill the implications. Winners and losers.
At times like these we like the Midnight Oil dictum 'down so low the bombs don't hit you' that is to say, owning nothing, little income, employed by no one, nothing to be blackmailed over, not even a spouse or kids to be undermined domestically. Should have been a Jesuit!:
Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008 5:37 PMSubject: high level ALP brutal cynical politik re power sell off?
This is how I interpret the front page Daily Telegraph today re Koperberg travails on potential prosecution for domestic violence;
- he was a potential threat to Iemma for a coalescing of left ALP MP interests in a spill against Iemma. Gravitas, experience, intellect, values, profile.
- Simon Benson is a cipher for ALP Premier's Office and he's been given the mission to run the issue up again front page blowtorch after Dec blowtorch
- the affidavit which splashed early December was out of Iemma/Kaiser's office to disaggregate the Left to progress the power sell off. It was a pre emptive strike and it worked to some degree. Kaiser quickly took the exit to Qld.
This is what John Robertson calls "going to get nasty" before its all over.
I chatted with Geof Ash in the Greens in John Kaye's office today, and pointed out how Costa as Unions NSW secretary had the Carr govt on the PR ropes over workerss comp reforms in about 2002 for over reaching and enriching the insurance industry. Presto Costa is shoe horned into a cosy upper house seat with promise of more. Sure enough he is Treasurer now after several ministries. And never faced a real election in his own name.
So what about Robertson? Will he be bought off too? As the anti sell off case starts to win the argument? The Koperberg smear comes out again. But off less impact because its a bit stale now. Notice the "once popular" twist of the knife by Benson. And will Robertson be seduced, or be strong and principled on public ownership? At least he has Thistlewaite to advocate so they can't just chop of the Unions NSW head to succeed with the sell off. He's got a buffer for safety there. And on the personal values front he did walk in the Walk Against Warming rally in late 2006, pretty sure as I saw lefty filmaker footage. Could have just been federal electioneering. But methinks Robertson is made of superior moral fibre to Costa?
That's my real politik speculations. Some of it is bound to be true.
Cheers Tom
