Power Sale Issue Gets Political

Andrew Bolt
Michael Costa demands respect not just for being a global warming sceptic:

MICHAEL Costa has issued an extraordinary ultimatum to his Labor colleagues, declaring he will quit within 10 weeks unless they roll over and accept a raft of controversial reforms and public sector cutbacks.

The NSW Treasurer has revealed that his mini-budget, due to be introduced by early November, will go much further than previously believed and will include privatisation of rail maintenance and Sydney ferries, a restructure of the NSW public sector and job cuts for bureaucrats.

“There is no point being the Treasurer of NSW if people aren’t prepared to make the difficult decisions around public sector reform,” Mr Costa told The Weekend Australian yesterday.

Liberal leader Barry O’Farrell’s crude populism in blocking the Government electricity privatisation plans make Costa (and, yes, Iemma) seem even more gutsy and, dare I say, principled.- I have heard O'Farrel speak on the issue, and he answered these jibes in and out of parliament. O'Farrel truthfully answered that his promise to support the legislation dependent on the report was faithfully kept. The report highlighted what was wrong with the proposal. Also the ALP have proven that they have not the skill to sensibly implement infrastructure policy. The reason why NSW needs the funds is because the ALP have been very bad administrators. The Conservative policy is clear and makes perfect sense. I am sure that ALP supporters are very disappointed that they don't have more money to play with. But it is their fault. - ed.
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Bolt favors the ALP, but he isn't alone among social conservatives who will try to pass the sale issue off as a failure of leadership by the Libs.
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How NSW shot itself in the foot
The vote on NSW electricity privatisation this week may well have been the most pivotal point the state's modern history. And we probably got it wrong, according to Chris Smith. - worth reading the article to see how Smith blames the Libs for failed ALP policy. - ed.