ESA Claims "Ludicrous" -Bradford

Energy Minister Max Bradford said today he is saddened by the tactics being used by the Electricity Supply Association against the Coalition Government's electricity reforms.

"They didn't even have the integrity to make their personal accusations against me in front of the Select Committee hearing of the Electricity Industry Reform Bill," Mr Bradford said from Geneva where he is attending an ILO meeting.

"The late Sir Robert Muldoon would turn in his grave if he knew of these allegations," he said. (The Electricity Supply Authority has distributed pamphlets claiming "Muldoonism returns under Mad Max policy".)

"Such claims are ludicrous and laughable," Mr Bradford said. "At the end of the day, if power companies' opposition to the reforms can't be articulated without reasoned argument, what sort of case and integrity have they got without resorting to such tactics?"