Fazio blocks power sale court orders
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday January 28, 2011
THE president of the Legislative Council, Labor MP Amanda Fazio, will defy the wishes of the committee looking into the state's power sale and not seek NSW Supreme Court orders for arrest warrants for the eight resigned directors.Ms Fazio revealed late yesterday that she believed the decision of the directors of the power companies who quit over the $5.3 billion sale not to appear before the inquiry was "with just cause or reasonable excuse"."I am disappointed that the committee has tried to push the envelope this far," Ms Fazio said.Her decision follows comments by the Premier, Kristina Keneally, that the second tranche of the electricity assets sale was continuing, although it was unlikely a deal would be finalised before caretaker conventions began on March 4.A senior government source said the timetable for the second tranche was never going to be achievable."After the Greens were talking about retrospective legislation and Mike Baird was urging the bidders not to bid, it was not a good commercial environment anyway," the source said.Another government source said the two options were to "kill off" the second tranche or to "faff around" so that it would impossible to evaluate the bids before the caretaker conventions began."There were senior ministers who wanted out [of the sale] but they were not prepared to kill it off," the source said.Earlier in the day, the chairman of the committee overseeing the power sale inquiry, Fred Nile, said he had written to Ms Fazio asking her to seek a court order as the directors had ignored summonses to appear.The eight directors, who include the former Olympics chief Michael Knight and the union official Tony Maher, repeatedly refused to attend the hearings, fearing the proroguing of Parliament had stripped the inquiry of its legal protections."We understand that this is a very serious step the committee has taken," Mr Nile said."These are the good guys and I think it is important that they have the opportunity to give this evidence. We believe we have a right and justification for taking this step, otherwise we as a committee would be failing in our responsibility to the state."Ms Keneally has maintained her support for the Treasurer, Eric Roozendaal, although he came under pressure for his handling of the sale. It is understood Mr Roozendaal met Eddie Obeid and the Planning Minister, Tony Kelly, yesterday to ask for their support in his re-election to the upper house.A senior Labor Party source said Mr Roozendaal's backing from the Premier would assure his position as number one on Labor's upper house ticket, despite a unions push to have him demoted to an unwinnable spot.The source said: "If Kristina is backing him there's no way admin committee will defy the Premier and if he has Eddie's support he really should be safe despite all the bad blood towards him."
© 2011 Sydney Morning Herald