Despite the best efforts of the Premier, the Treasurer and the Attorney General to bully committee members and potential witnesses, the inquiry will go ahead thanks to the Greens, Coalition and other cross-benchers forming an independent majority in the NSW Legislative Council.
This goes to show how important it is to have an upper house which is independent of the Government. Otherwise the Parliament is unable to provide sufficient checks and balances on the Executive.
After the committee meeting, David went on ABC News 24 to discuss the issue in depth. If you missed it you can watch it here:
The report also got a good run in the Daily Telegraph, with David being described as “New to parliament. Successfully mounted a legal challenge against the government on Wednesday which saw the power sale committee resurrected.” Daily Telegraph Article
John Kaye will be taking the lead for the Greens on the Gentrader Inquiry when it begins in January. John has run a long campaign against the privatisation of the NSW electricity industry which has done much to raise public awareness of the issue.
The power sell-off and attempt to shut-down parliament are the climax of a two week period where the government have pushed a series of terrible decisions through under the radar.
Legislation passed in the final weeks of parliament saw victims of multiple crimes such as sexual assault seriously disadvantaged; last-minute changes to Surrogacy Laws criminalised potential parents.
Planning Minister Tony Kelly has been on an approval spree. We’ve seen the $6 billion Barangaroo project handed over to Lend Lease. There have also been serious questions regarding Lend Lease being a major shareholder in the company the Premier’s husband works for, an electric car company Better Place.
Then there was the approval of a completely inappropriate 7,500 lot residential development at Huntlee in the Hunter Valley. This development will likely see the wiping out of a critically endangered native plant.
Even while fighting off these assaults on NSW, the Greens have been working positively in Parliament. The Greens in the Legislative Council have been able to secure changes to legislation which will see donations to political parties from the tobacco, alcohol and gaming industries banned, and stopped a nasty piece of legislation which would have seriously disadvantaged dependents of those who die from asbestos.
Campaigns in Sydney and the Hunter will continue to oppose Barangaroo and the Huntlee development, and David and his team will continue to raise public awareness of issues across NSW to put pressure on the Government and the Coalition to do the right thing.
Happy holidays. See you all in 2011.