It's hard to judge which of the two men Premier Morris Iemma or Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell has been painted into the tightest corner over the power privatisation issue.
Labor's decades of neglect of the state-owned electricity industry has left it vulnerable. Instead of making provision to upgrade and replace ageing assets, Labor stripped big dividends out of the industry, spending the money as it went.
Now it can't afford to invest the funds the creaking sector needs without endangering the state's prized triple-A credit rating. Labor is desperate to hand the problem to the private sector but it has missed the tide that peaked in the time of Bob Carr, when a sale might have yielded twice as much.
Unable to rely on his own parliamentary colleagues to pass his privatisation laws, Mr Iemma needs the Coalition. The Premier and his Treasurer, Mr Costa, have done their best to trap Mr O'Farrell, enlisting the business community which wants electricity in private hands to pressure the Coalition on the issue.
If Mr O'Farrell backs the sale he risks being seen as weak by voters as he simultaneously alienates his National Party Coalition partners and hands Mr Iemma a gold-plated lifeline. With the proceeds of the sale, the Government might try to buy its way back into public favour in time for the next election.
Mr O'Farrell could refuse to support the sale, leaving Mr Iemma and his backers high and dry in the face of a hostile ALP and a cynical electorate. But if he blocks the sale now the value of the assets may fall still further, reducing the possible benefits from a future privatisation.
The Coalition can't hide the fact that its policy calls for power privatisation. Mr O'Farrell's only reasonable argument against backing the Iemma Government's sale laws is a possible apprehension that any sale proceeds may be squandered by Labor, despite the Treasurer's assurances to the contrary.
Meanwhile the Government's desperation has become tangible, with Mr Iemma publishing advertisements warning of possible blackouts if the sale does not proceed, and with Mr Costa accused of threatening anti-privatisation MPs with a funding boycott. The Treasurer has denied making the threat, but it would hold little fear for the Hunter at any rate, since all the projects so far slated for sale funds have been in Sydney.
Family heartbreak
WHILE the parents of four young children were in Sydney at the bedside of their critically ill 10-month-old, their two-year-old daughter died in a house fire. The child's step-grandfather, battling throat cancer, has had his disease made worse by smoke inhalation. All the occupants of the destroyed house, including two children under 10 and two teenagers, have been traumatised by their narrow escape and the shocking loss of their little family member. The breathtaking scale of this personal tragedy is almost impossible to comprehend. The collective hearts of the entire community must reach out in sympathy against such cruel misfortune.
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