A federal Labor senator has used the senate to demand the New South Wales premier disclose all discussions about Chinese interest in buying some of the state’s electricity network under the proposed privatisation.
The NSW treasurer, Andrew Constance, met with representatives from Chinese power company State Grid Corporation to discuss potential investment in the state’s electricity network under the Liberal government’s proposal to privatise 49% of it, according to China Daily. Mike Baird also met with the president of the company, Liu Zhenya, last September, according to Fairfax media.
Labor senator Sam Dastyari said Baird must make a full disclosure of his discussions and there are no summaries in his public diary for the week he spent in China last year between 30 August and 8 September.
“What is Mr Baird trying to hide? I put it to this chamber, to the people of New South Wales and to Mr Mike Baird, why are there no records? Why are there no records of who he met? Why are there no records of what he discussed? Why have we been left completely in the dark?” Dastyari asked in the Senate on Tuesday night.
“... This revelation [of the meetings] raises more questions than it answers. Before the people of New South Wales go to the elections this Saturday to decide whether to sell their electricity network, they deserve some straight answers, and so far Mr Mike Baird has provided none. I call on both the Premier and the Treasurer of New South Wales to come clean about their involvement with the State Grid Corporation of China. What discussions have they had with its representatives? What has been promised? What is on the table? Who else have they met with? And what was discussed in these meetings?”
Dastyari said he was also concerned the sale of the transmission networks could be opposed by national security agencies, namely Asio, if it was to a foreign buyer. Baird said on Tuesday if there was foreign interest it would be overseen by the foreign investment review board.
“Are we all so naive as to think that the Australian security agencies do not have a view on the sale of TransGrid to an international buyer? This is an electricity company supplying the whole of Canberra, including this place and including all of the buildings that our federal departments and security agencies are housed in,” Dastyari said.
“My concern is that the people of New South Wales have not been told that this deal will be subject to security considerations. It is a gross misconception to think that an international bid will be assessed on the offer price alone.”
Baird has dismissed Labor concerns about foreign interest as a “scare campaign”.
“The opposition has run the biggest scare campaign in the history of this state, that’s it, they don’t have a plan, they don’t intend to make a difference to anyone’s lives, they just want to get into power for power’s sake. We’ve seen it before, they’re dishing it up again,” he said on Tuesday.
