Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Three days out from the New South Wales state election, I rise to tell the real story about the sale of that state's electricity network, which is only starting to emerge—and what a sordid tale it is. Tonight, I put to this place that the New South Wales Premier, Mr Mike Baird, must make a full disclosure. Under state law, ministers are obliged to provide summaries of all their meetings. These are called diary disclosure summaries. And, at first glance, the Premier appears to be complying with this requirement. Well, actually, that is not quite accurate. It appears that he has been complying with this requirement. But there are no diary disclosure summaries—absolutely none—for the period starting on Saturday, 30 August, 2014 and ending on Sunday, 8 September. This covers the period when Mr Baird was travelling in China.

On 3 September, Mr Baird issued a press release that concludes that he 'will be meeting senior government leaders, business leaders and potential investors in Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing'. What is Mr Baird trying to hide? I put it to this chamber, to the people of New South Wales and to Mr Mike Baird: why are there no records? Why are there no records of who he met? Why are there no records of what he discussed? Why have we been left completely in the dark?

Thanks to an article in today's Sydney Morning Herald, we now know that on 19 November last year, the New South Wales Treasurer, Mr Andrew Constance, also had a secret meeting. That was with the State Grid Corporation of China, the largest state-owned electric utilities company in the world. And, thanks to the ChinaDaily, we now know that the purpose of this meeting was not what the Treasurer would like you to think. Mr Constance's compulsory diary disclosure summary records that the purpose of the meeting was 'introductory meeting and discussion of state grid investment in NSW'—very uncontroversial but, unfortunately, very misleading. Just days ago, on 6 March, the ChinaDaily reported:

Constance has already met with Chinese power firm State Grid Corp late last year regarding the sale of the state's multi-billion electricity infrastructure.

So the cat is out of the bag. And who do we have to thank for this revelation? Not the Treasurer, and certainly not the Premier, Mr Mike Baird—both of whom should have been frank and honest—but the newspapers in China!

This revelation raises more questions than it answers. Before the people of New South Wales go to the elections this Saturday to decide whether to sell their electricity network, they deserve some straight answers, and so far Mr Mike Baird has provided none. I call on both the Premier and the Treasurer of New South Wales to come clean about their involvement with the State Grid Corporation of China. What discussions have they had with its representatives? What has been promised? What is on the table? Who else have they met with? And what was discussed in these meetings? I call on Mr Baird to reveal his diaries to the people of New South Wales. Give the electorate the full story. This is just too important to stay covered up.

I now move on to my second concern tonight. We all know that there is no 'plan B' if the Premier cannot pass his legislation through the New South Wales state parliament. But what is the plan B if the sale of our transmission networks is opposed by our national security agencies, namely, ASIO? Are we all so naive as to think that the Australian security agencies do not have a view on the sale of TransGrid to an international buyer? This is an electricity company supplying the whole of Canberra, including this place and including all of the buildings that our federal departments and security agencies are housed in.

My concern is that the people of New South Wales have not been told that this deal will be subject to security considerations. It is a gross misconception to think that an international bid will be assessed on the offer price alone. We found this out in the NBN negotiations, where potential buyers were excluded for security considerations. We ask our security agencies to state their concerns and identify what conditions they would place on foreign ownership, whether they have the same concerns they expressed during NBN negotiations, and to put these on the public record, where appropriate, so that New South Wales voters can be fully informed before election day.

Moving to my third concern tonight, we have all heard the story of Mr Baird giving up a lucrative career as a merchant banker with HSBC, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. But he has retained some important ties to his old employer in the form of shares in this company. Now, I am quick to note that, ordinarily, there would nothing controversial about this. However, on 19 January, Bloomberg reported:

State Grid Corporation of China has retained HSBC to advise it on the acquisition of up to $50 billion worth of electricity assets earmarked for sale by the Queensland and NSW governments.

Again, ordinarily there would nothing controversial about this. But you would think that, when the Premier is a direct financial beneficiary of a shareholding interest in the bank that is advising State Grid Corp, he would go out of his way to ensure that any possible conflict of interest was clearly disclosed. Instead, the state Treasurer's meeting with State Grid was concealed by a misleading diary entry. Premier Baird must give a full account of his dealings, if any, with State Grid. And he must do it before New South Wales voters go to the polls.

In conclusion, I put to this place tonight that, first, Mr Baird must explain—

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I raise a point of order under standing order 149, which relates to a failed director of the New South Wales state Labor Party trying to help a failed Labor Party in the state of New South Wales with this inappropriate submission to the Senate.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, there is no point of order, Senator Macdonald. Senator Dastyari, you have the call.

Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

First, Mr Baird must explain why his diary is blank from 31 August to 8 September and put all of his meetings, and the subjects that were discussed, on the public record, as is required by New South Wales law. Second, I put to this place that Australian security agencies put their concerns about this sale clearly on the public record, before election day. Third, I put to this place that, given the direct conflict of interest that Mr Baird has with HSBC, he clearly put on the on the public record just how much he stands to gain personally from this sale. There are just too many questions, too many risks. The stakes are too high to re-elect Mr Baird on Saturday.