The Draft White Paper calls for privatisation of state owned electricity
generation assets. This position is opposed by the ASU, industry
academics and industry stake holders.
The ASU believes reform should be more concerned with the function of
the generators, inside or outside the market, not about ownership.
The ASU notes it has long been a Federal Government policy that
generation ownership is up to state governments - that's where it needs
to be argued. The ASU's position is that state governments do and should
own power stations - they provide electricity for homes, business,
regional employment and much more. We have had public electricity
generation by state (and local government) for well over 100 years in
this country. There have been many electricity industy reforms in that
time and public ownership by governments has been part of that essential
service.
The ASU will be making a strong submission to the Federal Government
that state governments should continue to own power stations.
We call on the Federal Government to reject any change to the ownership
model and look at the functions and the important role state owned
generators play.
In addition to supporting the ASU submission against the Draft White
Paper, members can advise their Federal MP of their concerns for
regional jobs, employment and any ALP policy change.
In relation to the Productivity Commission investigation, the ASU will
be making submissions. ASU electricity industry members would be aware
that the Federal Government, through the Australian Energy Regulator,
determines the network charges (by the network owners) of electricity
distribution in both transmission and distribution. ASU has previously
made representations to the Australian Energy Regulator.
Releases and resources
Minister's media release: "Productivity Commission to Examine Electricity Network Regulation"http://minister.ret.gov.au/MediaCentre/MediaReleases/Pages/ProductivityCommissionExamineElectricityRegulation.aspx
Productivity Commission webpage for the inquiry:
http://www.pc.gov.au/projects/inquiry/electricity
Minister's media release: "Draft Energy White Paper Released"
http://minister.ret.gov.au/MediaCentre/MediaReleases/Pages/DraftEnergyWhitePaperReleased.aspx
Draft White Paper and related papers:
http://www.ret.gov.au/energy/facts/white_paper/draft-ewp-2011/Pages/Draft-Energy-White-Paper-2011.aspx
Draft White Paper Executive Summary:
http://www.ret.gov.au/energy/Documents/ewp/draft-ewp-2011/Draft-EWP-executive-summary.pdf
Greg Mclean
