Sunday May 4, 07:11 AM
Party dissent unlikely to halt energy sell-off in Australian state: official
SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia's most populous state is set to privatise its electricity industry despite overwhelming opposition from the ruling party's rank-and-file membership, Treasurer Michael Costa said.
At the centre-left Labor Party's New South Wales state conference in Sydney on Saturday, 702 delegates voted against the sell-off compared to 107 votes for the privatisation.
The vote came after more than two hours of rowdy debate on the conference floor, during which state leader Premier Morris Iemma was booed, jeered and laughed at, while delegates tried to drown out Costa, forcing him to yell.
Iemma left the conference before the vote was taken, but his treasurer defended the decision and indicated it will push ahead with the proposed sale of electricity retailers and the leasing of power generators.
The state government had to balance the views of the 700 delegates against those of the seven million people who live in New South Wales, Costa said.
"The premier will assess the conference, but we do have a responsibility to seven million people to ensure that their electricity supplies are maintained," he said late Saturday.
Opponents have argued that the plan could result in job losses and higher electricity bills.
Former New South Wales premier Bob Carr, who failed in his bid to privatise the sector when in office, urged Iemma to stand firm.
"I think the Labor rank-and-file -- and I love them like brothers and sisters -- are very attached to an old-fashioned, even Soviet-style model of the government electricity monopoly producing all the energy we need and distributing it," he told commercial television Sunday.
"We've got something very different now. We've got a national electricity market... and in that national context, privatisation is not only beneficial but essential."
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