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ALP must withdraw privatisation adDear , In two of their ads the ALP makes false claims about the government's program to lease assets. As part of our campaign to make this election stick to the facts we have sent an open letter to Anthony Chisholm, the ALP State Secretary, asking him to correct the ads or withdraw. You can read the letter on our site by clicking here. The full text is also below. In this campaign we have an opportunity to prove our worth as a think tank which campaigns for genuinely progressive policies, like privatisation and responsible budgets, at the same time doing its best to ensure that public debate is open, honest, accountable and informed. We've also started a fact checking site at www.qlddecides.com, please bookmark it and visit it during the course of the campaign. Please forward this email, or a link to the letter, on to all your friends and contacts. If you are not a member, please think of joining. Annual fees are $100 (students get an 80% discount), or for $1,100 we will give you a foundation membership and never ask you for a fee again. Click here to join. We also need funds to run this campaign. Building websites and fact checking does not come free. Even $50 dollars would help. Donations can be made online via our journal On Line Opinion. Just click on this link. Regards,
Graham Young Open letter to Anthony ChisholmDear Anthony, I’m writing with respect to the ALP advertisements on privatisation currently running on TV, which can be viewed by clicking on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wptJMNV_qsY and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWfWaUWqpfs. These advertisements contain a number of untruths. As the Australian Institute for Progress stated at the beginning of this campaign, “Repetition of untrue slogans on the basis that the more frequently and loudly they are repeated the more likely voters are to believe them to be true is not a democratic practice, and we call on the political parties to avoid it”. Our institute favours full privatisation of the assets that the government is leasing and we are happy to have that argument in the context of an election, and to support all parties that support that position. However the argument should be had on a factual basis. The untrue assertions in these advertisements are:
The government is not proposing to sell these assets, and that is plain from the Strong Choices Final Plan. They are leasing rather than selling the assets. On this point the ads also imply that the arrangement is for 99 years, when it is for 50 years with an option for a further 49 years. A lease is not a sale, neither economically nor legally. Furthermore the facts do not bear out the assertions in the first ad that when they have “sold” the assets “[j]ust like they did in Victoria” that electricity bills will increase because “…electricity bills in Victoria have skyrocketed”. Or the assertion in the second ad that “The only reason someone buys an asset is to make money from it, so you’ll pay more.” The most recent study into electricity pricing, by Ernst Young, clearly shows that not to be true, as per the table below. Electricity bills in Victoria are lower than in Queensland, and have increased less since privatisation occurred some 19 years ago.
I have enjoyed our chats about campaigning in the past, but this is no way to run an election in a modern democracy. I look forward to your response and the ALP withdrawing these ads and entering into some serious debate about the merits, or otherwise, of the issues. Regards,
Graham Young
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