The premier of Western Australia, Colin Barnett, was heckled and labelled a ‘dog’ by protesting workers at Fremantle Port today. The workers are protesting the planned privatisation of the port.
Despite the tense situation, Barnett went and held dialogue with the protesters. “People want more and more. We’ve got a big state. We’ve got to build roads. We’ve got to build power stations, water supplies and all of that. It costs a lot of money to build all that infrastructure and all those services,” he told them.
The Fremantle port privatisation is one of a string of public assets up for sale in the state as it battles to get its finances in shape. However, it is not necessarily going to go through as Barnett’s coalition partners in power are opposed to the idea.
