(2008) Draft Letter to the National Secretary of the ALP re NSW Electricity Privatisation
This letter, never sent, was emailed to Premier Morris Iemma and Attorney General John Hatzistergos, dated 2 May 2008. John McCarthy QC helped me on the draft.
(2008) Letter to NSW ALP Caucus re Privatisation
Letter written by Neville Wran, Barrie Unsworth, Bob Carr, John MacBean and myself, dated 5 May 2008, and circulated to NSW members of the parliamentary Labor Party and more widely.
(2008) The McKell Model
The 1930s was a decade of ALP splits and rancorous factional warfare, which made the ALP unelectable. In the 1930s Labor lost three NSW State elections and helped lose the three Federal elections held in that decade. In 1939 Conference returned to the parliamentary party the right to elect its leader.
(2008) Speech at Maree Simmond’s (née Easson’s) 50th
Maree was the first of the bad Easson kids. First to stay out late, drink to excess, wake up really, really late on weekends; first to argue unconvincingly that she had puffed, but never inhaled. First to leave home.
(2008) The Secretaryship of Michael Easson
It is timely to revisit Michael Easson’s term as secretary of the Labor Council of New South Wales. Easson was the subject of criticism in some quarters during his period as secretary and criticisms have been aired subsequently.
(2008) SMH Botched its Reporting on Sydney’s Western FastRail
Saturday’s Sydney Morning Herald article on Western FastRail (WFR) by Linton Besser is inaccurate, dishonest, and poor journalism. And it ignores a key point: the WFR consortium proposes that any high-speed link to western Sydney be competitively tendered.
(2008) Discussion Paper: Western Sydney Public Transport Projects
Discussion paper prepared for circulation by the NSW Fabian Society in November 2008, following a conference on NSW transport strategies and priorities the month before.