This week, amidst hectic political manoeuvrings over various Abbott Government proposals, the Senate saw through its privatisation push, amending their bill substantially. It is a start at stopping the states and territories being economically blackmailed to privatise their assets with a 15% bonus - well done Senators for seeing through this charade!
Amendments to the Asset Recycling Bill (since renamed by the Senate to reveal what it actually is: the Encouraging Privatisation Bill) include:
- Either House of Parliament will now be able to block privatisation transactions as the Government will be required to table each one.
- Infrastructure Australia must assess all projects over $100 million and provide a cost-benefit analysis, which will make the process more transparent.
Citizens will benefit. Had this got through the Senate, Australians would have paid more, at least three times over to support privatisation:
Once - for the extra cost to use the assets they currently own in the future once privatised (research shows privatised services always cost more).
Twice - more in state government charges to replace the income stream those governments currently receive from the asset while it is state-owned.
Thrice - the extra taxes and charges to the Federal Government to pay for the money they are spending to encourage privatisation in the first place.
"We are heartened by the Senate's actions which reveal a growing understanding among politicians of the dangers of privatisation – but there is still a long way to go in preventing further public losses," said ASU Assistant National Secretary Greg McLean.
"The ASU continues to fight privatisation in our industries, particularly in energy in NSW and Queensland at the moment, so we encourage our members and supporters to be involved in anti-privatisation campaigns – it does make a difference!" he concluded.
Read more: Senate blows a $3.5b hole in government's asset recycling plan, Sydney Morning Herald, by Matthew Knott, 17 July 2014.
More information
Time to heed electricity privatisation lessons from Victoria & SA before it's too late, 26 June 2014
Concerns over forced privatisation of state government assets, 14 May 2014