The Greens said the reality was both of the old major parties were equally to blame, as artificial capping of retail tariffs was Colin Barnett’s price for supporting the break-up of Western Power.
The Greens clearly outlined the price problems we face today, when debating the issue in 2002.
“I’m not generally in the business of defending the previous State Labor Government, but the fact is it is bare-faced cheek by the Barnett Government to exclusively blame his Labor predecessors for today’s big energy price hike,” said the Greens Energy spokesperson Robin Chapple MLC.
“In reality, both of the bigger WA political parties were complicit in making a meal of the disaggregation of the former one-stop-shop energy provider.”
“It always stood to reason that breaking up one bureaucracy into multiple ones might increase overheads over and above the sought after market-efficiency gains, and it seems that the reality of disaggregation has borne that out.”
The Greens said those inevitable costs, and the other normal cost increases of heavy industry, were deferred not just by then Energy Minister Eric Ripper but also by then Opposition Leader Colin Barnett, for whom an undertaking to cap retail tariffs for four years was the price of supporting the break-up of Western Power.
“Communities have been stung both last year and today by massive utility price rises and we need to get the history right on why that has happened.”
“Both the Liberal and Labor parties have their fingerprints all over these hikes,” Mr Chapple added.
- Media contact: Robin Chapple 0409 379 263
