It was maddening to hear a number of mainstream and lesser media organs come out observing that the Labor Party lost the recent Queensland election because of ex-Premier Anna Bligh's and ex-Treasurer, Andrew Fraser's counterintuitive and unpopular insistence on going ahead with privatisation and population growth policies, when you spent time recording the efforts of a man who continually tried to raise these issues and was preparing to run for election as an independent on these very matters in a major Brisbane seat. James Sinnamon was engaged in a long running campaign to raise the media profile of the Queensland public's right to choose on population and privatisation, when a terrible road accident removed him from active political life. Reviewing Laura Tingle's "Great Expectations in Quarterly Essay, June 2012, brings home the awful consequences of not having Australian political alternatives to canvass the selling off of institutions. See also ABC markets new privatisation grab of public assets
What you won’t hear from Labor or Liberal spokespeople about the causes of the Queensland election result.
Cost of living has been given as a major cause of Labor's loss in the Queensland elections 2012, but the real reasons for these rising costs are skirted. The Liberals have even tried to pin these costs on taxes that have not yet been used. See also James Sinnamon's articles about privatisation and population policy in Queensland and how he tried to call the government, the unions, and the Greens to account on these well before the 2012 elections.
Grounds are that the government failed to inform people during the last Queensland State elections of their intentions to privatise Queensland assets to the value of $15billion.
As the English-speaking countries watch their governments transfer public assets and power to the private sector, eroding democracy, the people of France, have, once again, stood up to their government and mounted a massive resistance to privatisation. The Left in France, unlike the Left in Australia has simply not caved in on this and the Unions have retained their integrity in this matter.
In a leaflet handed out at the protest against privatisation held outside the Queensland state Labor Party conference on Sunday 7 June 2009, James Sinnamon, who stood as an anti-privatisation independent candidate at the recent state elections, argues that the unions need to take decisive action against privatisation now. Delaying action can only make the fight against privatisation harder.
What you can do to prevent the theft of your property: Sign the petition against privatisation; Attend protests against privatisation outside Parliament House at 9:00am on Tuesday 16 June, the day that the Budget that is to contain the privatisation legislation, is to be put to the Queensland Parliament. Note: not on Monday 15 June as previously advertised.
Brisbane's local ABC radio morning presenter Madonna King failed to use knowledge that she had in her hands that would have demolished Queensland Premier Bligh's excuse for not raising the issue of privatisation during the recent state elections. When I tried to phone the ABC to put this knowledge directly to the Premier, I was cut off.
In response to the Queensland state Government's threat to conduct a "Shock Doctrine" style asset fire sale, James Sinnamon, who stood as an independent anti-privatisation candidate in the recent Queensland state elections sent an e-mail to the Murdoch-owned Courier Mail newspaper, which pointed out the Queensland Government had not gained any mandate to sell any publicly owned assets. Copies were sent to every state member of Parliament including Treasurer Andrew Fraser and Premier Anna Bligh.
Update: (27 May 09) (1) A Courier Mail online poll, published on 27 May had 91% of respondents answer 'No' to the question, "Should the state Government sell public assets to help the Budget?" (2) Although the Courier Mail published a number of letters concerning privatisation, all opposed, mine was not included.
Brisbane's local ABC radio station 612 disregarded its own listeners' expressed dissatisfaction with both the major parties when, during the 2009 Queensland state elections, it refused any air time to local independent candidates. Instead, virtually all the available time was given over to candidates from the governing Labor Party or the Opposition Liberal National Party, who even according to the ABC's own listeners, provided little useful information.
The Queensland government actively encourages population growth, yet, when the adverse and wholly predictable consequences become too obvious to deny, acts as if it had played no part in bringing about that population growth in the first place. Its deception of the Queensland public has been assisted for years by that state's newsmedia.
The recently concluded Queensland elections were massively rigged against independent candidates like myself and the Greens. So too were the Brisbane City Council elections of a year ago in which I stood for Lord Mayor. Not entirely unexpectedly, my vote was low. Should such a result dissuade a candidate, who offers a real alternative to the two major parties, from standing again?
During an interview on Brisbane ABC local radio's Madonna King show, on 19 March, Lawrence Springborg told listeners that he has 'no objection' to the further sell-off of publicly-owned assets. I responded with an e-mail which challenged Mr Springborg to justify that view before the Queensland voters in a public debate.
To go straight to survey results for any electorate, click on the letter from those following, with which the name of that electorate begins: ABCDEFGHIKLMNPRSTWY
James Sinnamon, independent candidate for Mount Coot-tha, has attempted to get the Labor and Liberal National Parties to make a clear commitment to Queensland electors, who are overwhelmingly opposed to privatisation, to block any further sell-off of state government owned assets, but has yet to get a clear response. So, far state Labor Treasurer, against whom James Sinnamon is standing, has given three different responses.
This letter is the second part of my response to Lawrence Springborg's answer to an e-mail I sent to him and a number of other candidates. That initial e-mail included my response to a questionnaire from the Save the Mary River Brisbane Group I recently sent him. (This letter has also been published on
citizensagainstsellingtelstra.com
(now archived by Australian National Library's Pandora service).)
On 8 March I responded to a questionnaire from the Brisbane Save The Mary River group and sent copies to other candidates contesting the seat of Mount Coot-tha, as well as to Premier Anna Bligh and to Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg. Lawrence Springborg replied almost immediately that same day. I responded to ask that he act against the principle driver of .Queensland's water crises, namely population growth now actively encouraged by the Bligh Government.
In an open letter to Queensland's Premier Anna Bligh and Queensland's Treasurer Andrew Fraser, James Sinnamon, the Independent pro-democracy candidate for Mount Coot-tha asks for assurances that any plans to privatise any more public assets be put to the Queensland people at the forthcoming state elections.
The Brisbane mayoral election should have been anything but boring. Four candidates declared policies against population growth, but received next to no press coverage. These candidates for fundamental change ran right up against the major vested interests in the outcome of the Brisbane Council election. Those vested interests are the property development industry and its upstream and downstream dependents, which include the Courier Mail. Many group under the Australian Property Council umbrella. Choosing to structure themselves around continuously increasing population growth, naturally these industries prefer mayors who won't seriously challenge their objectives. Greg Rowell is employed by the Australian Property Council and “Can Do” Newman has been giving them what they want and telling Brisbanites that this is what Brisbane needs, for years now, in what the APC calls “the cooperative relationship between the State Government and Liberal Lord Mayor Campbell Newman."
It was maddening to hear a number of mainstream and lesser media organs come out observing that the Labor Party lost the recent Queensland election because of ex-Premier Anna Bligh's and ex-Treasurer, Andrew Fraser's counterintuitive and unpopular insistence on going ahead with privatisation and population growth policies, when you spent time recording the efforts of a man who continually tried to raise these issues and was preparing to run for election as an independent on these very matters in a major Brisbane seat. James Sinnamon was engaged in a long running campaign to raise the media profile of the Queensland public's right to choose on population and privatisation, when a terrible road accident removed him from active political life. Reviewing Laura Tingle's "Great Expectations in Quarterly Essay, June 2012, brings home the awful consequences of not having Australian political alternatives to canvass the selling off of institutions. See also 
What you won’t hear from Labor or Liberal spokespeople about the causes of the Queensland election result.
Grounds are that the government failed to inform people during the last Queensland State elections of their intentions to privatise Queensland assets to the value of $15billion.
As the English-speaking countries watch their governments transfer public assets and power to the private sector, eroding democracy, the people of France, have, once again, stood up to their government and mounted a massive resistance to privatisation. The Left in France, unlike the Left in Australia has simply not caved in on this and the Unions have retained their integrity in this matter.
In an open letter to Queensland's Premier Anna Bligh and Queensland's Treasurer Andrew Fraser, James Sinnamon, the Independent pro-democracy candidate for Mount Coot-tha asks for assurances that any plans to privatise any more public assets be put to the Queensland people at the forthcoming state elections.
The Brisbane mayoral election should have been anything but boring. Four candidates declared policies against population growth, but received next to no press coverage. These candidates for fundamental change ran right up against the major vested interests in the outcome of the Brisbane Council election. Those vested interests are the property development industry and its upstream and downstream dependents, which include the Courier Mail. Many group under the Australian Property Council umbrella. Choosing to structure themselves around continuously increasing population growth, naturally these industries prefer mayors who won't seriously challenge their objectives. Greg Rowell is employed by the Australian Property Council and “Can Do” Newman has been giving them what they want and telling Brisbanites that this is what Brisbane needs, for years now, in what the APC calls “the cooperative relationship between the State Government and Liberal Lord Mayor Campbell Newman." 
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