Fact: Over the last decade, the average yearly price of electricity per megawatt hour has been $38.22 in NSW. This should be compared to other states in Australia where privatisation has occurred. An example is in South Australia, the average price is $76.36.
Jenny Haines
Something unusual and historic in the NSW Labor Party happened today. About 200 active rank and file members of the party filled the Sydney Trades Hall auditorium for a forum, in revolt against the plans by the parliamentary party in power to privatise the electricity industry in NSW.
Bob Gould
Despite the usual tendency of Australian politics to go into recess in January, the developing struggle over electricity privatisation is shaping up as the first major political collision of the Rudd era.
The media and the will of the people: a view from the left
Bob Gould
Green Left discussion list, March 28, 2007
After the heroic East German uprising against Soviet occupation in 1953 the German playwright Bertold Brecht, who was an enigmatic Stalinist politically, wrote a short poem, The Solution.
After the uprising of the 17th June
The Secretary of the Writer’s Union
Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee
Stating that the people
Had forfeited the confidence of the government
And could win it back only
By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier
In that case for the government
To dissolve the people
And elect another?
The People’s Choice. Electoral Politics in 20th century NSW. Three vols, edited by Michael Hogan and David Clune, published by the Parliament of NSW, 2001
These three volumes are extremely elegant. As a professional bookseller, who also happens to be a political agitator, researcher, writer and ideologue, I generally distinguish between books as objects, and books for my own research and consumption. The elegant books as objects I tend to treat as tradeable commodities, and have quite a serious interest in them from that angle, but my own personal collection of 20,000 or so reading and working books, are anything but books as objects. I tend to keep the most battered copy for my own use, and flog the ones in better condition.
