Abigail spoke briefly today in support of a motion to recognise the alarming increase in privatisation of public land under the NSW Liberal-National Government. 

Abigail (10:53) said: 

Briefly, I support the comments of my colleague Mr David Shoebridge and reflect also on the last line of his contribution, when he said "the Government cannot help itself". However, it certainly can help itself, and that is one of the reasons we see so much privatisation. These privatisations, which lead to fewer assets being owned by government and more assets being owned by private interests, are very much in the interests of the Coalition Government and its mates from the big end of town and in big business. It is very much helping itself with this so-called "asset recycling". It is not asset recycling; it is asset gifting to private interests. It gets dressed up with this fancy name but the long-term trend is very, very clear. We are ending up with more public assets and essential public services being run by for-profit organisations and not being held in trust for future generations of this State.

As my colleague said, these are not the Government's assets to give away. They are not the Government's assets to sell. They belong to the public. They belong to the people of New South Wales. I am getting a little fed up with the tone we hear from this Coalition Government, which implies that somehow it is going around this State gifting things to people. According to Coalition Ministers, if you have been fighting for 30 or 40 years for a new school in your area you should be grateful to finally get something that, according to any other view of the way government should work, is yours by right. I support the motion, I endorse the comments of my colleague and I thank the Hon. John Graham for moving it.

To see the full debate, visit Hansard here.