The Australian Services Union has refused to confirm whether it will pull its anti-Western Power privatisation ad after Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims accused them of taking his words out of context.
The radio advertisement quotes Mr Sims saying "When you meet people on the street, and they say, 'I don't want privatisation because it boosts prices', and you dismiss them, no, no – they're right, recent examples suggest they're right".
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ACCC chairman accuses union of misleading ad
ACCC boss Rod Sims has accused the union of taking his comments on privatisation out of context in an anti-Western Power sell-off ad. Audio: 6PR.
Mr Sims, however, told Radio 6PR on Monday his words, said during a Melbourne economic forum in 2016, were taken completely out of context, and that he was referring to what can happen when an asset is sold into a poorly regulated environment – which he believed was not the case with Western Power.
He called for the ad, which opposes the Liberal-Nationals election promise to sell 51 per cent of the electricity asset for around $11 billion, to be removed.
"I said that privatisation, if it's done well can bring a lot of benefits, but recently many governments have been privatising badly, they've been seeking to maximise proceeds... but it doesn't have to be that way if you privatise into a well regulated market then it should actually lower prices and be beneficial," Mr Sims said.
"I would expect a private operator to run the [Western Power] operations more efficiently.... and given it's well regulated... the privatisation of Western Power would very likely see prices go down."
ASU WA branch secretary Wayne Wood responded to Mr Sims allegations by telling Radio 6PR the union would consider whether or not to remove the ad.
"We've just received correspondence today from Mr Sims and so we will take it under consideration and probably do that in the next 24 hours," he said.
"The fact he says he's been taken out of context, that's his position, we disagree with that.
"We've had a view all along that there hasn't been any successful privatisation of any of the electrical networks in Australia... commercial businesses operate for profit."
Mr Sims said if the ads were not removed, he would be forced to continue to clarify this comments in the media.
The state government has said selling Western Power would help wipe $8 billion from WA's debt, and inject $3 billion into major infrastructure projects, while also helping to regain the state's tripe A credit rating.
WA Labor leader Mark McGowan has promised to keep the asset if his party wins government at the March state election.