THE Stop the Selloff campaigners visited Bega on Monday as part of their state-wide trip discussing the potential impacts of NSW Premier Mike Baird’s electricity privatisation plan, and a decline in apprentice numbers at Essential Energy.
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Mr Baird is aiming to privatise 49 per cent of the state’s electricity poles and wires if elected next year and Electrical Trade Union secretary Steve Butler said he had “no doubt” the remainder, including Essential Energy, would be sold in the future.
In addition, Mr Butler said since the NSW Liberal Government was elected in 2011 Essential Energy apprentice numbers have plummeted from 102 that year to 30 in 2014.
“In Victoria, where the electricity network was sold off to overseas owners in the 1990’s, there were no new apprentices engaged at all in the following years, power prices went up, reliability of electricity services dropped, and public safety was impacted – with poor maintenance sparking several of the deadly Black Saturday bushfires,” he said.
“If Essential Energy is sold it will mean all these guys [who work in Bega] will have to travel up the highway for a couple of hours or go down to Aubrey.
“Even if the [Bega] depo didn’t close, our experience with privatisation in Victoria is that we saw 80 per cent of jobs go.
“There is $1million that is taken out of the local economy for every 15 jobs that go.”
He said there were 60 jobs at Bega’s Essential Energy - workers and apprentices.
“Taking $4.5million out of a regional economy can have a devastating effect,” he said.
“Good jobs like this are the glue that holds regional communities together.”
Mr Butler said people have been very responsive over his trip and they recognise the danger of having few apprenticeships in town as it would mean youth have to travel out of regional areas for training.
“There is no doubt that everyone is clearly of the view that selling Essential Energy will result in higher prices,” he said.
Mr Butler called upon Member for Bega Andrew Constance to stand against the privatisation of electricity to prevent a loss of jobs.
Constance blasts ETU
MEMBER for Bega and NSW Treasurer Andrew Constance has called on the ETU to apologise to Far South Coast electricity consumers for high electricity prices as part of their visit to the region.
“The ETU should take some responsibility for electricity prices and apologise to local consumers,” Mr Constance said.
“Labor and the ETU should be apologising for jacking up household bills by 60 per cent through their poor management when they were in office.
“The fact is that Essential Energy currently operates 65 vehicles per 100 employees and is a basket case due to union dominance.
“Their campaign is against my actions as Treasurer to smash union power in the energy companies and has zero to do with the leasing arrangements of Transgrid, Ausgrid and Endeavour.
“The NSW Government has made clear that Essential Energy will not be leased.
“The ETU are merely positioning themselves prior to the upcoming enterprise bargaining agreement negotiations.
“They would do well to remember that it’s the Bega households and businesses paying their wages through their power bills.
“I hope they take time to soak up the beautiful Far South Coast and take down their illegal and incorrect yellow signs they have plastered all over road signage in the region,” Mr Constance said.
