9.30pm 26 March 2011An outgoing Labor MP says the ALP's decision to privatise the electricity sector was a decisive factor in the party's drubbing in the New South Wales election.
Paul Pearce, who conceded defeat in the eastern Sydney seat of Coogee earlier this evening, also delivered a withering assessment of the former state treasurer Michael Costa.
"Our problems started when Michael Costa initiated electricity privatisation," Mr Pearce said.
"It was against the interests of the party, against the interests of the trade union movement and it was against the interests of the public.
"And that fool (Michael Costa) persisted with it."
