Save Our Snowy - SOS-NEWS - David Hain's speech to the Cooma Meeting April 2006

AND A FEW OTHER THINGS - From a speech by David Hain

Will the financial gorilla be, for example, the Nigerian Hedge Fund No 6, incorporated in Ulan Bator with its only office in Tierra del Fuego and whose directors have addresses c/- a box number in a Swiss Bank? Far fetched you will say. Well cop this. The investors in Sydney's Cross Sydney Tunnel are Hong Kong's Cheung Kong Investments controlled by China's richest man Li Ka-Shing, Bilfinger Berger Concession and D B Capital Partners. Source SMH 11/4/06 p3. I wonder where we write to that lot about a pot-hole in the tunnel?
Who will monitor the safety of the dams and how will any necessary rectification and maintenance work be enforced, particularly if the buyer is the said Nigerian Hedge Fund No 6?.
Private profit and public responsibility are inherently incompatible. Do you want to go to a hospital whose main objective is to make a profit for it's owners or go to a hospital whose main objective is to get you well? Telstra and the Cross City Tunnel are classic examples of the conflict between public interest and private profit.
Who will ultimately control the Snowy? You can always vote a Government out, but try getting rid of Nigerian Hedge Fund No 6, or whoever may be the owner from time to time. I have been speaking from the national interest perspective. What are the local issues? You should be able to raise those much better than I. However, it seems to me from the local point of view, the following is relevant.
A sale has clear risk of pain, but no certainty of gain.
There is clearly risk to the tourist industry, but not even the promise of profit.
Locally you are tax-payers, and when this buggers up, you, along with the rest of us will be paying for it.
The promise of improvement in the electricity market is just that; a political promise.
If this deal is so good for the Snowy Mountains communities, then we would have been hearing from the sellers ad nauseum why it will be so good.

As Peter Garrett said, the recent track record of privatisation is mixed. The Feds have not covered themselves in glory with the sale of Telstra. The Cross City Tunnel seems less than perfect. Spencer St. Station (now Southern Cross Station) in Melbourne was a shambles for several years. Are we going to trust those Governments to get the sale of the Snowy Scheme right? If so, we deserve all we will ultimately get. JUST DON'T SELL IT IS A MUCH SAFER AND BETTER IDEA.

Labor Prime Minister Ben Chifley was the great Australian leader who had the vision to give the Snowy Scheme life for all Australians. If this sale goes ahead, those responsible for the sale of the Snowy will be remembered as the men who squandered our inheritance.

This full speech is well worth the read and can be downloaded here