Unions ramp up campaign against Western Power fire sale

Unions representing thousands of workers in WA’s electricity system have commenced a major advertising campaign to fight the Barnett Government’s plans to privatise Western Power.

The campaign kicked off today with radio and digital advertising, and will expand into print and television advertising in the months ahead.

The campaign will be statewide, but will have a particular focus on metropolitan and regional communities at risk of bushfire.  This will include the state electorates of Swan Hills, Kalamunda and Darling Range.

The Australian Services Union (ASU) and Electrical Trades Union (ETU) joined forces in 2014 to campaign against the privatisation of WA’s electricity network.  

ASU WA Assistant Branch Secretary Jill Hugo said privatising Western Power would significantly increase the risk of bushfire.

“In a drying climate, all Western Australians need to work together to manage bushfire risk,” Ms Hugo said.

“While we will never be able to completely remove the threat, and unexpected things will always go wrong, the last thing we should be doing is knowingly increasing the risk of catastrophic fires.

“This is what Colin Barnett is doing with his planned privatisation of Western Power – knowingly increasing the risk of bushfire in WA.

“The Royal Commission into Victoria’s Black Saturday bushfires, which left 173 people dead, found that faulty privatised power lines were responsible for causing five of the most devastating blazes.

“This tragic case study highlights the very real dangers of electricity privatisation to the community.  It has special relevance to communities in Perth’s hills and the south west of Western Australia.

“Once electricity networks are placed in the hands of private companies, the number one factor that guides decision-making around maintenance and investment in new infrastructure is profit. Public safety becomes less of a priority.

“Colin Barnett needs to learn from the tragic failures of privatisation around Australia, and leave WA’s electricity system in public hands.”

ETU WA Branch Secretary Les McLaughlan said privatisation would come at great cost to the community.

“The problem with privatisation is that the community always ends up paying, one way or another,” Mr McLaughlan said.

“Consumers end up paying higher prices, as private owners look at maximising revenue.

“Workers end up paying the price, as private owners cut jobs and apprenticeships to maximise profits.

“Fewer staff means less maintenance.  This will result in less reliable power supplies, and increased bushfire risk.”

Mr McLaughlan said a decision by Colin Barnett to lease Western Power would be just as bad.

“A long term lease of Western Power’s assets would have the same negative impacts on the community and would still represent a fire sale, designed to fix the financial mess Colin Barnett himself has created,” Mr McLaughlan said.

“Former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman tried to trick the Queensland community into thinking long term leasing was a less harmful form of privatisation, but Queenslanders saw though this deception and showed him the door.

“We are going to throw the kitchen sink at this campaign.  We’ll be asking all Western Australians to use their power at the ballot box to defeat the Barnett Government and stop the privatisation of our electricity system.”