Privatisation of electricity networks leaves the vast majority of voters feeling people in their state are worse off, new polling has found.
The polling commissioned by the Stop the Sell Off campaign – which is opposed to the proposed lease of NSW electricity assets by the Baird government – asked voters in Victoria and South Australia if they believed people in their state were better or worse off with a privatised network.
In Victoria, 66.7 per cent said people in the state were worse off, with 13.8 per cent saying they are better off and 19.5 per cent stating it made no difference.
In South Australia, 74.1 per cent of voters said people there were worse off. Just 8.1 per cent said they were better off and 17.8 per cent said they were about the same.
The ReachTel poll asked the question of 1146 South Australians and 1129 Victorians on January 28.
NSW Premier Mike Baird has promised if re-elected on March 28 to lease the state-owned electricity transmission company Transgrid and 50.4 per cent of distribution businesses Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy for 99 years to the private sector.
He has pledged to spend an anticipated $20 billion from the transactions on roads, rail and other infrastructure.
But Stop The Sell Off campaign director Adam Kerslake said the polling was "an extraordinary rejection" of Mr Baird's claim electricity privatisation would be good for the people of NSW.
"This poll reveals the reality of power privatisation in Victoria and South Australia, where there has been cuts to services and increased prices as private multinationals seek to maximise their profits from these essential services," Mr Kerslake said.
Mr Kerslake said the polling also showed why voters had "emphatically rejected" the Queensland Liberal National Party's proposal to privatise state electricity assets in last Saturday's state election.
"The Liberal and National parties need to heed these warnings, as well as the fate of their Queensland colleagues, and dump this ideological agenda which they are attempting to push through against the will of the people of NSW," he said.
