Newcastle rally against privatisation

By Shane Hopkinson

NEWCASTLE -- A meeting was held at the Workers Club on September 16 as part of a national campaign opposing privatisation. Malcolm Larson, assistant secretary of the NSW Public Sector Union, told the meeting that privatisation was “bad economics”. It made no sense to sell community assets to fund a budget deficit; this would result in increased prices, less accountability, job losses and foreign ownership, he said.

Laurie Stern, joint branch secretary of NSW maritime unions, argued that privatisation was for the benefit of the few and was supported only by the greedy and/or the stupid. He said that the demand to sell public assets was “ideological”.

Stern outlined recent events in the maritime dispute and argued that the outcome should be regarded as a victory. Although the strike had failed to prevent the privatisation of the most profitable part of the Australian National Line, they had managed to prevent its complete privatisation.

Now a consortium of government, private industry and employees would own ANL. Ships would continue to operate with Australian crews, with Australian award conditions and sail under an Australian flag.

The 150 people attending passed unanimously a resolution which stated that “in the guise of giving the right to choose, privatisation and corporatisation take this choice away from the poor, the isolated and the disadvantaged”. This statement was forwarded to Paul Keating, the ACTU and all NSW delegates to the ALP National Conference.

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