The information shown below is an excerpt from an article recently published in The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/dec/27/nsw-poised-to-privatise-state-forests-to-raise-1bn-for-infrastructure-projects)
Please be assured that your union is proactively pushing back on any potential full privatisation of Ausgrid. This is OUR asset, and we intend to keep it that way.
“It is understood the government would also like to sell its remaining half of NSW’s electricity distributor Ausgrid – the company which owns the poles and wires carrying power around the state – but the proposal is on hold.
This follows controversy over the sale of the initial 50% of Ausgrid in 2016, when the then federal treasurer, Scott Morrison, cited national security concerns to block a winning bid from a consortium made up of Chinese government-owned State Grid and Hong Kong’s Cheung Kong Infrastructure.
The stake was then sold for $16bn to an Australian consortium made up of the industry super investment vehicle IFM Investors and the nation’s biggest superannuation fund, AustralianSuper.
The investors are said to have sounded out the government about a further sale, but Morrison’s rhetoric on Chinese influence in Australia has caused investors to hit the pause button on a proposal for the remaining half.
Investors are looking to pay about $10bn to $11bn for the second part, because the grid is considered a wasting asset that is losing value, due in part to the uptake of solar panels.”
USU Organiser, Troy Dunne
For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact your organisers: Troy Dunne on 0419 403 076 or tdunne@usu.org.au or Paul Sansom on 0409 076 633 or psansom@usu.org.au
