Good Enough to Sell! Good Enough to Keep! - 14 October 2008

“Now is hardly the time to be thinking of privatising any state departments. Waste NSW is an industry leader in the provision of recycling, education and land management services to local councils, businesses and education resources, particularly in the western Sydney region. It is interesting to note that Victoria achieves higher rates of recycling at half the cost to households – proper audits should be done with a public entity. There is no advantage gained in dealing with a private company,” said Mr Cohen.

“The private native forestry industry’s regulations are so rudimentary and ineffectual that we are witnessing logging at third world standards on private lands. Selling Forests NSW would be a crime against our future. The outcome of privatisation would be that the public would have less chance of influencing forestry management, working to regulations equivalent to Public Forestry, and obtaining conservation outcomes will be sacrificed to the dollar bottom line,” said Mr Cohen.

“These sell-offs by the Government are not in the public interest. This is a real disappointment from a prior Premier, once a great conservationist, who only 3 weeks ago spoke out against the absurdity of not taking action on climate change, who is now happy to do the bidding of Macquarie Bank. It smacks of self-interest,” said Mr Cohen.

“In such tumultuous financial times, it’s common sense for the Government to retain these departments. When the banking system is in such turmoil and globally governments are re-nationalising their banking systems, how can we trust a bank to successfully management our environmental future?” said Mr Cohen.

“Forestry, with a recognition of its growing role in any Greenhouse strategy, needs to be kept in public hands. Forestry is the “Commonwealth Bank” of future climate control. Does anyone seriously consider that The Commonwealth Bank serves the public interest better in private hands?” said Mr Cohen.