Rally against the sell-off

NSW residents will have an opportunity to Stop The Sell-off with a public rally on Parliament House in Sydney to be held on Tuesday 26 February.

Meanwhile, people can stop the NSW Government's plans to privatise our electricity by joining campaigners around that state and collecting signatures for our petition .

Campaigners say that support for stopping the sell-off and keeping electricity in public hands is growing after hundreds hit local shopping centers with their message last weekend.

"Local workers and their families that we approached on street were very supportive and keen to find out more about how they too could get involved," said Perinth local Sharon Vassar.

"They weren't happy to learn that the NSW Government wants to hand our power over to Big Business and are concerned about what this would mean for future energy prices and local job opportunities.

"Many said they'd like to go to the rally on February 26, Stop The Sell-off campaigners visited their local shopping centers in Bathurst, Lithgow, the Blue Mountains, New Castle, Maitland, Singleton, the Central Coast and Penrith."

Download our petition and start a campaign in your local community: http://www.stoptheselloff.org.au/reports/StopTheSellOff-Petition.doc

Bad news for the environment

Handing over our power to Big Business is bad news for the environment and could spell further climate change.

Selling-off the state's electricity to companies that are more interested in profits than reducing greenhouse gas emissions would mean greater impacts of climate change for future generations.

Experience shows that private companies are likely to:

Drive up energy use

Private companies will make bigger profits if consumers use more electricity.

Lead to a new coal-fired power stations being built

One of the reason given for selling-off our electricity is to get private companies to build a new power station. Private companies are more likely to build dirty coal-fired power stations than use cleaner technologies such as wind or solar.

Undermine National and Global efforts to slash energy use

Private companies will lobby against carbon tax and other regulations.

For more information visit http://www.nccnsw.org.au/

Unions take community concerns to State Government

Unions NSW last Friday raised with the NSW Government the community's concern about the impact that the sell-off could have on affordable electricity, reliable services, local job opportunities and climate change.

Assistant Secretary of Unions NSW, Matt Thistlethwaite said that he hoped that the Premier took the meeting as an opportunity to listen the concerns of the community.

"We pushed the interests of workers and their families in NSW and are hopeful that the Government will act in support of those same interests."

Community welfare and green groups also joined Unions NSW at the meeting with the State Government.

The committee is expected to make a full report on the impacts of the sell-off on 22 February.

Let us know what you think - send your concerns to Matt Thistlethwaite at mthistlethwaite@unionsnsw.org.au