Australian society, like many other societies throughout the world, has seen its governments pursue agendas of reduced spending on public services and infrastructure. Governments have also encouraged the pursuit of private sector participation in public services via privatisation, which has often not been in the interests of the Australians who use these services.
The ASU is linked to these public services through our membership and our Branches who are involved in the day to day activities of these services. Examples include ASU members who work in local government, electricity, water, child care, taxation, public transport, ambulance services and education to name a few - with ASU members and their families also being users of these services.
The People’s Inquiry into Privatisation is an initiative of the Public Services’ International (PSI) affiliated unions in Australia which, in addition to the ASU, include the CPSU, NSWNMA and ETU. In 2016 the Inquiry travelled to all states and territories of Australia to gather community testimony about the impact of privatisation on real people. Along with written submissions and research, the result is a comprehensive report released in October 2017: “Taking Back Control: A Community Response to Privatisation”. As the title amply conveys, the Australian people have had enough of the privatisation experiment unleashed on them since the 1990s and there is a strong appetite to return services and assets to public hands.
One of the keenest frustrations expressed by people participating was the failure of the promises given to the community at the time, that jobs would be maintained, that services would improve and costs would go down.
Read more here and download the report and summary: Changing the rules by taking back control: the community reaction to privatisation.
