No cheer in Keneally's grubby gift to the state

FORGET the Grinch that stole Christmas.

Instead, consider the Premier who killed democracy. Unfortunately, it's no fairy tale - and no laughing matter, either. After 15 long years of Labor misrule and mismanagement, it might have been thought that the long-suffering taxpayers of NSW deserved a small break. Hey, it's Christmas, after all. But no, in an act of chicanery that might have come from Boss Tweed's Tammany Hall, rife as it was with graft, political corruption and cronyism, Premier Kristina Keneally, has pulled a stunt designed to prevent the voters from gaining any insights into $5.3 billion sell-off the state's electricity assets. Taxpayers, already bushwhacked by Labor's ever-soaring power prices and the cost of its ill-considered subsidies to inefficient "green" energy suppliers, now face yet further barriers to the truth. They deserve to know if the deal hastily stitched together by Treasurer Eric Roozendaal, and rammed through at midnight on Tuesday last week, is sound. Eight directors, a majority, from the Delta and Eraring Energy boards quit in protest at the terms of the deal - as yet unknown to the public and, according to Keneally, still being negotiated. On past form, the directors and the public have every reason to be concerned about the NSW Government's deal. In particular, the public should be told whether the upfront returns the Government needs to keep its books in the black will mean a long-term future sunk in red ink. The people of NSW are also entitled to know whether they will be required to pay an ongoing subsidy to the new owners of the power companies to keep the power generators viable. These are the questions which Keneally and her team do not want asked. More than 20 Labor MPs have already decided to jump ship rather than suffer the humiliating ignominy of opposition following the election in March. Who knows how many others may leap after inquiries reveal the extent of gross ineffectiveness and fiscal ineptitude in this Government. NSW's American-born Premier has acted with the same infamous disregard for convention as the leaders of the notoriously bent Rum Corps. Instead of asking the Governor to prorogue Parliament in late February, as the State Government's own website had indicated would occur, she hustled Governor Marie Bashir into proroguing Parliament on Wednesday. This does not mean that the Government is in caretaker mode. But it does mean that parliament itself is deemed to be shut down, though there are legal arguments to be made about whether government committees can be permitted to keep operating. The State Government has indicated it will still (unless Keneally pulls another swifty) go into caretaker mode on March 4, before the March 26 state election. Keneally cites advice from the government solicitor on her side but the Opposition, the Call to Australia Party (the Reverend Fred Nile) and the Greens have contrary advice from clerk of the Upper House Lynn Lovelock. The three Labor MPs who said on Wednesday that they would be members of an inquiry into the power sale yesterday boycotted the meeting. Nile was yesterday adamant the inquiry would proceed. He said he had received advice from the clerk of the parliament that there was no reason an Upper House standing committee could not conduct an inquiry after parliament has been prorogued according to legislative council practice. "As such, these committees have authority under the standing orders to continue to meet and dispatch business after any prorogation of the council and up until the dissolution of the assembly," he said. "On Wednesday Labor gave us the names of the three MPs who were to sit on the committee. Yesterday they boycotted it. "The committee was unanimous that it proceed nonetheless. It has agreed the terms of reference. "It will sit on January 17 and 18 and it will report by the end of the month." One of the grubbiest aspects of this affair is the manner in which both Keneally and her Attorney-General John Hatzistergos called separate press conferences yesterday and made similar remarks which could be seen as attempts to intimidate potential witnesses from appearing at any inquiry by raising the possibility that they would not enjoy the usual protections of parliamentary privilege from possible defamation actions. It was an effective if hardly subtle warning to the eight directors and the public servants likely to be called that they should think carefully about whether they should risk giving evidence to the Nile committee. It was a new low for the Kennealy Government. The Premier also tried to hide behind the Auditor-General, saying she would be happy for him to conduct an inquiry, if he wished. But she would be fully aware that the Auditor-General could not possibly run an inquiry and report back to parliament before the state election. It was another con trick from a practised performer. Roozendaal, who finagled the power sell-off, owes his political career to another grubby Labor apparatchik, the former NSW ALP secretary, Senator Mark Arbib. Labor insiders say the power sale fiasco will only cause more damage to the ALP - state and federally. "How does it look to the punters having [Prime Minister"> Julia Gillard and her boyfriend swanning around Kirribilli House over Christmas with this mess on the front page of every newspaper?" a senior source asked. "If Labor was polling at 24 per cent before this disaster, what will the next polls show? This is arrogance on arrogance. "The party is taking Labor voters for granted. "But even the most rusted-on True Believers will see through this sort of rort." Through a combination of blind stupidity and bloody-mindedness, Keneally has handed the Opposition a Christmas present it didn't count on. It has also enhanced its own reputation for fiscal incompetence while treating the public with contempt.