Light on the Hill: ETU Opposes Asset Sale

The Electrical Trades Union’s (ETU) Statewide Queensland campaign against the privatisation of our keystone assets commences today. The campaign, to be known as "Light on the Hill", seeks primarily to hold the Labor party to their traditional values (and indeed, their party platform!).

The Light on the Hill campaign will include workplace meetings, rallies, public meetings in regional cities, radio and newspaper advertising and literature drops.

The advertising starts in north Queensland today, with the first public events being held in Cairns next Monday, 22 June. The campaign will then work its way down the coast over the next two weeks with a major rally scheduled for Brisbane on Friday July 3.

The Light on the Hill campaign coincides with the unveiling of the State Government’s 2009-10 budget, which includes proceeds from the sale of a number of State Government corporations including most of Queensland Rail.

ETU secretary, Peter "Simmo" Simpson, who spoke at Brisbane's Climate Emergency Rally over the weekend, said the campaign is about stopping this fire sale of State Government assets and putting labour values back into the Labor Party.

ETU members strongly oppose the sale of public assets such as Queensland Rail and the port authorities. We are far from convinced that selling off important public assets is a sensible long-term response to these short-term economic difficulties.

We also believe that if the State Government gets away with this then things such as electricity and water will be next. That would be an even bigger disaster for the people of Queensland.