>From today's Breaking News (The Age), at: http://www.theage.com.au/daily/981214/breaking/ Govt to sell off water: Brumby The Victorian government planned to privatise the state's water supply, Opposition leader John Brumby said today. He said advertisements in the Financial Review last week seeking tenders from companies able to value the water industry represented the first step in the privatisation process. ``This is the pattern they've used with electricity and that's been sold and this is the pattern they used with gas,'' Mr Brumby told radio 3LO. ``And I think your listeners would think, well when do you get your house valued? You get it valued when you're going to sell it.'' He said Premier Jeff Kennett and Treasurer Alan Stockdale's past assurances that they had no plan to privatise the water supply could not be trusted. ``That's exactly what they said about gas at the last election,'' he said. ``If you look at their track record to date, I don't think there's any doubt - what this is about is laying the ground work to sell off Victoria's water assets.'' Water will soon be the only utility left in public hands. Electricity privatisations netted $23 billion and the recently announced gas sell-off is expected to make another $4 billion. Mr Kennett last month said privatising water was not an option for a range of reasons. ''... as a policy decision it is not on,'' he said. AAP hmg/bjm/br Published: Mon Dec 14 08:43:38 EST 1998 end ============== Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List As vilified, slandered and attacked by One Nation mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html
