Fresh from another credit rating downgrade, wholesale budget lies and parading in front of his public works white elephants, Naked Emperor Barnett’s greasy fingers are itching to flog the crown jewels, from The Australian:
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett has conceded for the first time he may need to consider the potential $15 billion privatisation of the state’s electricity poles and wires network to address his government’s mounting fiscal crisis.
The Premier has long been at odds with his Treasurer, Mike Nahan, who has privately advocated selling the government-owned utility Western Power and using the proceeds to slash the state’s huge debt pile.
After Moody’s yesterday downgraded Western Australia’s credit rating and questioned the government’s reform commitment, Mr Barnett admitted he was “running out of options” on raising revenue, given the state’s shortfall in GST revenue and the collapse in commodity prices.
“We may be forced to consider that,” Mr Barnett said. “I’ve expressed my view that I do not support the sale of Western Power.
“However, if we don’t get any correction in the GST situation and we continue to be penalised by the commonwealth and the other states, then we will have to look at further asset sales.”
Actually, I have no issue with selling the utility. In Victoria the privatisation of the power distributors has worked well and helped prevent the kind of capital mis-all0cation we’ve seen in the gold-plating of publicly owned networks in other states.
But, this is hardly the context for it is it? A desperate and recession-burdened state sinking under the weight of its own imperial mismanagement turning to international capital to pick up its assets for a song at the bottom of the cycle?
I know what I’d do if I were given the option to vote on it.
