Lights out for democracy - privatisation of essential services in Victoria

More phone-marketing instead of democratic consultation

I have been twice bothered by phone calls from people wanting to come into my house and take old lightbulbs out and put new ones in. They claim to be from one of 30 different private organisations which have been given taxpayers' money to do this. They claim that they cannot simply put the lightbulbs outside the door, but that they must come in and insert them for audit purposes.

Invasion of privacy

This is an invasion of privacy. What gives the government the moral right to sell off our essential services for competitive profit, and then to give private companies taxpayer donations and then to have them insist on coming into private citizens' houses?

Why should we trust any of them? If we have to accept this 'largesse' then the least that could be done is simply have the items dropped off, or possibly signed for by the householder.

Essential services outsourced for profit are a dysfunctional concept

Personally I have no confidence in an essential service which is outsourced for competitive profit along with an expensive commission to monitor it.

What I want is a government provided program which I can vote on as a citizen.

To be a 'client' is a much lesser empowerment than to be a citizen.

Vale social capital.

This is all so tragically ludicrous.

More information

If you want to know more about these changes have a look at The Essential Services Commission, "Victoria's independent economic regulator of essential services".

You will find that most of their brief is just ensuring 'competition' to make for 'low prices', but of course the cost of electricity will continue to rise because of all the other government policies which are hell-bent on intensifying production and consumption.

I wonder who owns shares in sustainable lightbulbs and has some influence in parliament or the Essential Services Commission. And are they dishonest or simply idiots?