Socialist to Contest Blue Mountains City Council Elections

John Tognolini

The NSW local government elections will be held on September 13. The Socialist Alliance will be standing John Tognolini (Togs) for the First Ward in the Blue Mountains City Council, which covers Katoomba, Leura, Medlow Bath, Blackheath, the Shipley Plateau, Mount Victoria, Bell, Mount Wilson, Mount Irvine and the Megalong Valley.

John will be campaigning against unjust workplace laws by advocating policies to:·


Make the Blue Mountains an Australian Workplace Agreement/individual contract-free zone.·

Ban BMCC work being given to contractors who use AWAs, and all other non-union contracts.·

Defend volunteer bushfire fighters and State Emergency Service volunteers from the effects of the WorkChoices laws that are still in place.


A major plank of John's campaign will be opposing the Labor state government's proposed privatisation of the power industry. Such basic utilities must be kept in public hands. John will also campaign for:·


Defending and extending public education and health care, emergency services and transport.


No transport of uranium, nuclear waste or cyanide through the Blue Mountains.·


Open and accountable local government and more community services.·


Real solutions to climate change -- a cause of more extreme bushfires and storms.

John Tognolini has been a political activist for more than 30 years. He has been a high school teacher for the past eight years in western Sydney, the Blue Mountains and the Central West. He is active in the NSW Teachers Federation, and served on the union's state council for nearly five years. He has been a NSWTF delegate to Unions NSW and is currently a NSWTF representative to the NSW Board of Studies for the Ancient and Modern History Curriculum Committees.


John is active in the Blue Mountains Union Council and worked in the Macquarie Your Rights At Work Campaign last year.


Over the years, John has also been involved in Justice Action, the NSW National Parks Association and the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia.


Before teaching, he worked as a labourer, scaffolder, rigger, dogman, railway fettler/ganger and a painter and docker. He is a life member of the Federated Ship Painters & Dockers Union and was a Builders Labourers Federation organiser.


John is strongly committed to the local community. He is a volunteer bushfire fighter of more than 14 years' standing, and coached and helped organise junior Australian Football for four years in Katoomba. He has been involved in community radio for 20 years and currently presents the Katoomba Surf Club on BLUFM 89.1 every Sunday night from 8-10pm.


For more information about the Socialist Alliance's Blue Mountains City Council election campaign, email bluemountains@socialist-alliance.org or phone John on 0428 826 347. For information about the Socialist Alliance's policies, visit http://www.socialist-alliance.org/

BEYOND SORRY:THE FIGHT FOR LAND RIGHTS ,

COMPENSATION & REAL JUSTICE

Greg Etock, founding member of Aboriginal Rights Coalition will doscuss the reality of the racist NT intervention and address the question of real justice under the newRudd government

2pm, Saturday June 14, Family Hotel dining room, Parke St Katoomba

Blue Mountains Socialist Alliance phone 47826347

Koperberg Supports Power Privatisation

To the editor,

Firstly I wish Phil Koperberg all the best with his upcoming medical operation.

In saying that, he has made a grave mis-judgement if he thinks he can get away with selling the pup of Morris Immea and Mick Costas' power industry privatisation. He sent a letter to the February 21, Katoomba People Power public meeting outlining his support for power privatisation.

Phil probably noticed the 12,000 unionists outside state parliament on February 26 who were joined by 15 ALP backbenchers. And Phil is probably aware of the Katoomba ALP branch's motion opposing privatisation, that many other ALP branches have adopted across the state.

Over eighty per cent of people are opposed to privatisation. So why does Phil, Iemma and Costa believe they can ignore the will of the people?

And Phil are you familiar with what ALP Federal Member of Parliament, Julia Irwin said in the Australian parliament, "The proposal of the New South Wales government to privatise parts of the electricity industry has alarmed many consumers as well as employees of electricity generators and suppliers. Consumers have little confidence that electricity prices would fall if privatisation goes ahead when experience from other states with private generators shows that prices are higher for average consumers."

She's right.Julia Irwin went on to state, "In 1946, the long-serving conservative Premier of South Australia, Tom Playford, could not get the private electricity supplier to extend services to new growth areas of the state, so he nationalised the industry. Those governments who today seek to sell the people's power assets may someday find themselves in the same position. I call on Premier Iemma to listen to the voices of the people of New South Wales."

So Phil why don't you listen to people of the Blue Mountains, many of whom elected you to state parliament on catchphrase of "Keeping the Mountains in safe hands." There's nothing "safe" about privatisation, it's down right evil. It's hurting the battlers who voted for you.

John Tognolini,Socialist Alliance candidate for Ward One, Blue Mountains City Council.

Published in Blue Mountains Gazette 5-3-08

Rudd Supports Power Privatisation

I'm not surprised by prime minister Kevin Rudd's support for the NSW government's plan to lease out power stations and sell all but the poles and wires assets of the state's power utilities worth $15 billion. "Premier Iemma has my complete support," he told journalists in Canberra.

Kevin Rudd did not say one word about privatisation of public assets in last November's federal election, nor did Morris Iemma in last March's state election.

Starting with Margaret Thatcher in the UK, we've seen over two decades of privatisation of basic services like energy, water and transport: the jury is now in. For the user, it means higher prices and less reliability, for the worker, less job security, for the environment, greater danger of pollution, but for the corporations, very, very fat and publicly guaranteed profits.

For us in the Blue Mountains how long would it take to get the power back on after storms with fewer workers and how much money would we pay?

Also as the Total Environment Centre and Nature Conservation Council have pointed out, public ownership of power is essential for developing renewable energy to challenge Climate Change. And Rudd was elected largely on workers' rights and Climate Change.

I've challenged state member Phil Koperberg and local ALP councilors to stand-by-side with the local community and publicly oppose their party leaders' sell off plans. After Rudd's support for privatisation I challenge federal member Bob Debus to do the same.

John Tognolini
Socialist Alliance candidate for Ward One Blue Mountains City Council

published in Blue Mountains Gazette 27-2-08