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September 6, 2009
An election is coming in SA. Early 2010. The political rhetoric is being rammed up and the terrain of the battle is being defined by the Rann Government. The Liberal Opposition under Isobel Redmond is notable for its silence and lack of presence in the public sphere. They are still fighting one another--movement conservatism versus those Burkean conservatives who preserve the given order by changing it to make it work better.The Liberals are constantly subordinate to Labor rule and will be so for some time.
What then are the issues that will determine the future of Adelaide? What issues are being selected by Rann Labor to keep the Liberals subordinate? How does it plan to kick on the the Liberal body whilst they lie on the ground wounded?
One issue is not whether a US navy maintenance base in South Australia at Techport Australia eventuates,--ie the Defence State or military industrial complex. Or whether General Motors builds its next-generation electric car in Adelaide---developing green manufacturing in SA. Or the over-allocation of water licences in the Murray-Darling Basin and the death of the lower lakes. Or a sustainable Adelaide in the heated up world of climate change. Or South Australia’s punitive approach to juvenile justice.
Nope it is privatisation, yesterdays privatisation at that! A core issue is the privatisation of the state's electricity and water by the Liberals in the 1990s! The Rann Government would sue the French-owned company which manages Adelaide’s water supply.The Liberals are to blame.
Rann promised that he was determined to:
lift the veil of secrecy that surrounded the Liberals' privatisation agenda" before the next election. I think that it's going to be really interesting to see whether or not they told the truth to the people of this state. We've got a state election coming up next year. Privatisation once again is going to be a key thing that will be fought out at the next election campaign."
Sure the 15 year water privatisation contract with United Water - a wholly-owned subsidiary of the French giant, Veolia -- was real dodgy. United Water’s role is the management of the infrastructure as SA Water owns the pipes. United Water fixes them when they burst. They charge a lot for this.
According to Henrik Grout Labor washes Liberal sins in the Independent Weekly United Water have also been sneaking in a lot of other charges for research, business and industry development costs that haven't happened, and for all of its corporate overhead costs, including things that happened in New Zealand and Ballarat. So United Water has breached its contract. SA Water---gutted and demoralised by years of attrition under the Rann Government-- wants the money back--- a few tens of millions.
So what does the Rann Government suing the French-owned company, which manages Adelaide’s water supply, achieve? We know that multinationals rip us off. Global water companies have a long track record in this. The Rann Government would have know about this since 2003 and it could have changed the price for the management of the water infrastructure in 2006.
Nope, it's a free memory kick on the badly bruised Liberal body. Don't trust the Liberals with privatisation. It's a cover for lack of action on water that is becoming ever more expensive and to hide the neo-liberal mode of governance of the Rann Government.
Privatisation would only be a significant issue if the privatisation of the management of the state's water and waste water systems would be reversed, given the 15-year private sector contract was up for renewal next year. And that is hardly likely, in spite of Labor's entrenched opposition to privatisation of water and electricity when it was in opposition.
Today, the desalinisation plant at Port Stanvac is the next phase in SA’s water privatisation: the $2 billion desalination plant is to be designed, built, commissioned, operated and maintained by AdelaideAqua, which is owned by Bilfinger Berger AG. Neo-liberalism rules in SA despite the marked failure of the economists and their self-regulating economic models in the context of the global financial crisis. In their model there is no room for such things as bubbles and banking-system collapse.
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I read a big feature about the SA Water fiasco in the 'Independent' that was very informative. Sort of thing you would never read in the Morning Murdoch. But I can't conceal my enormous indifference to the next state election. Four more years of Media Mike...yawn.