That this House:

(1)Condemns the Minns Labor Government's lack of urgency in declaring a state of natural disaster in Broken Hill.

(2)Calls on the Minns Labor Government to provide immediate support for impacted healthcare facilities, schools, small businesses and local residents.

(3)Recognises the important community support being provided by the Broken Hill Musicians Club, Rural Fire Service and local volunteers.

I start my contribution by saying that Government members are thinking of the people in the communities of Broken Hill, Tibooburra, White Cliffs, Wilcannia, Menindee and everyone in the Far West who is going through what can only be a difficult and frustrating time. They can be assured that they have excellent representatives out there and in this place, including the local member, who will be visiting with the Premier tomorrow. Those representatives are knocking on doors and making sure that the community is doing well and able to get back on their feet. I have spoken with Darriea Turley, the former Mayor of Broken Hill, about how things are going, what it is like on the ground and what the impact has been. Power has been coming on and off, but there will still be long‑term impacts after power is restored permanently.

In order to cooperate, some of the organisations have effectively been going slow or shutting down. The aged-care facilities are going slow, which means that some of the workers will probably be impacted through loss of pay. Mines have shut down in order to save power. They have effectively asked workers to take leave. I know that some of those workers were planning to use that leave in the Christmas and New Year period, so this is going to impact people and families for months to come. But I want everyone in the Far West to know that members on this side of the Chamber back them.

The tone of the contribution of the member for Coffs Harbour was subdued but, make no mistake, the wording of this motion shows that members opposite are attempting to play politics with what is a very serious situation. I presume that between the time he circulated the motion and the time he got up in the Chamber to speak he has probably been told to pull his head in and stop playing politics with this situation. While those opposite are focused on politics, we are focused on getting the power back on. We do not care about scoring political points. We are making sure that we are doing everything in our power to get the power back on and ensure that the people of the Far West are being supported and looked after.

There are serious questions to be asked, including: Where were the concerns of those opposite when they decided to privatise Transgrid in 2015? Make no mistake, this is a direct consequence of the privatisation of Transgrid. If you privatise a company, it becomes driven by one thing and one thing only, and that is the profit motive. It has cut back on maintaining the network. I have spoken to union members and delegates who work for Transgrid. It had a choice several years ago about investing in the network. It could have duplicated supply into Broken Hill or it could have maintained and upgraded the existing line. Of course, it took the cheaper option, which was to maintain and upgrade the existing line. Now we see the consequences of that. That is not from me. That is from delegates and representatives of the Electrical Trades Union [ETU], who I spoke with today about the impacts of privatisation and what has happened with Transgrid. Do not take my word for it. As I said, I am not playing politics.

Mr Kevin Anderson: Take the ETU's word for it.

Mr NATHAN HAGARTY: No, let us take the word of the Mayor of Broken Hill, Tom Kennedy, who said this morning, "When anything is privatised, a lot of the companies look at their bottom line and, where they can save money, they will save money." The consequences of that are what we are seeing today.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER (Ms Sonia Hornery): Opposition members will come to order.

Mr NATHAN HAGARTY: When there was a similar outage several years ago, things were up and running because there were service standards and two maintained generators. One of those generators has failed—as has the philosophy of those opposite about privatising anything they can get their hands on. They need to answer some more questions. Do they still support privatisation? Do they regret their decision to privatise the State's transmission network? I take the opportunity to acknowledge the community effort that is underway. People are using their generators and solar power to look after their neighbours. They should know that the members on this side of the House are with them every step of the way. The Premier will be out there tomorrow to assist.