Privatisation in Australia
Privatisation in Australia is the process of transiting a public service or good to the private sector through a variety of mechanisms that was commenced by the Federal Government in the 1990s, receiving bipartisan support.
[6] The Australian experience of privatisation involves substituting government ownership, provision and funding to the private sector, in an attempt to liberalise the economy.
[13] Unlike the rest of the world, Australia's privatisation program was relatively early as it first commenced in the 1990s, under the Hawke Labor government.
[16] Emerging industries replaced traditional ones that suddenly became non-competitive, as productivity in the finance, education and legal sector increased, as real wages grew concurrently.
However, during the Hawke-Keating years, there were attempts to remove the ideological underpinnings of the debate on privatisation, as the approach taken by the government was "more about a pragmatic choice" to modernise and open the economy to international markets.
The consensus-style leadership of Bob Hawke enabled structural economic reforms, through the Accord struck in 1983 between Labor and the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU).
[19] This accord brought together various stakeholders from unions, welfare organisations and the business community, to secure a mandate for market-oriented economic reforms, while remaining committed to social progress.
[20] Economists indicate the continuous rates of economic growth were not the result of Howard's policies of privatization, but rather, to one of the world's biggest booms in the mining sector, where investments rose from 2 to 8 percent of GDP.
[21] The difference between privatization under Hawke-Keating and Howard governments, is argued to be one of ideology, however this does not suggest the Labor Party was not divided on this issue and continues to be.
[3] The systemic approach to privatisation is derived from ideological predispositions that seek to restructure society by minimizing government influence.
[4] This approach was undertaken during Howard's leadership, as privatisation was underpinned by ideology, to ensure smaller government interference in the economy and to embolden private market actors over the public sector.
"[3] This relates to Thatcher's concept of privatisation, which incorporates an ideological aspect of shrinking government interference in society, according to the classical liberal theory.
[41] The executive board of Qantas view this as a success, citing increasing staff numbers, flights and revenue growth since privatisation.
[46] On 26 March 2014, the Liberal Abbott government Minister for Finance Mathias Cormann announced that Medibank would be sold through an initial public offering in the 2014–2015 financial year.
[58] Bligh announced the privatisation of five government owned corporations: More than 3,000 workers were to be offered voluntary redundancies, just three months after the public float of QR National.
[60][61] In 2014, Liberal premier Mike Baird oversaw the sale of a 50% stake in the Port of Newcastle to China Merchants Group, a state-owned Chinese business.
[65][66] On 14 December 2010 Kristina Keneally Labor government sold the first tranche of the partial privatisation of the state's electricity assets for $5.3 billion.
[70] Economists have signaled caution about privatizing electricity networks, due to the risk of creating a monopoly, which runs contrary to the policy aims of privatisation.
[14] Despite this positive effect of privatisation, Telstra's monopoly over telecommunications infrastructure in Australia led to limited market competition, which reduced investment in the sector.
[39] Australian economist, John Quiggin, reveals that despite the sensible rationale in privatising the Commonwealth Bank, it represents a net loss to the taxpayer.
