Liberals against privatisation?

I’d be sad if they sold off EPIC. I kind of like the idea of a fusty old bunch of farmers, chook fanciers and horsey folk poking about with stuff like the Canberra Show and associated attractions – at the least it sets community based benchmark against which the Government and private sector can compete against in terms of complex adminstrative structures, dead wood and mal-administration …

BeyondThought said :

Why is it Chairman Jon owns a TAB anyway?

The majority of TABs throughout Australia were originally owned by the government. They still are in the ACT, TAS, WA and QLD?.

Why is it Chairman Jon owns a TAB anyway?

The answer is ACTTAB, it’s not viable to be goverment owned in the long-term especially with no affiliation after 2011(?)

EPIC will become part of TAMS from 1 July 09.
ACTION would have to be subsidised even if sold off, as it’s not economically viable as an actual business.
ACTEW Corp is already half privatised through the ACTEWAGL Joint Venture, it may eventually go after ACTTAB does.
Transact is not a TOC. The only relation to the ACT Government is that ACTEW Corporation is a shareholder. It is not a controlling shareholder either, as there are 5 other shareholders.

Wasn’t ACTION about to be privatized by the Liberals before Labour gained power & stopped it?

Also I thought that ACTEWAGL had already be sold off with TransACT a private company to start off with.

Sounds like the Libs might be able to sell Calvary Hospital…

The Government made a decision last budget I think to bring EPIC back under TAMS didn’t they? The same problem we had with Kate Carnell – this only gives us one off money for capital works or maybe the investment pool but it doesn’t necessarily give recurrent money which is what we need for improved services.

You just have to look at the budget to see how much subsidy some of these are getting. some give a dividend but not all.

johnboy said :

In most places the Government subsidises the operators, but doesn’t own them, which at least gives the opportunity to switch to a better operator if one comes along.

Agreed, as long as you have a contractual framework that assures the transition process is as painless as possible. Use of an Award Term (i.e. automatic contract extension) that incentivises the operator to perform the contract to a high level could also be used to drive contractor performance.

I would have thought that ACTTAB would’ve have been one of the more profitable business on that list.

Why sell the thing that gives us the best return on investment?

Of course, I’m purely speculating here – I don’t have any actual figures to go on. It would be interesting to know what each business returned.

Not sure you could sell off ACTION…it runs at a consistent loss doesn’t it? Something to do with not enough passengers/population and too much surface area to cover?

In most places the Government subsidises the operators, but doesn’t own them, which at least gives the opportunity to switch to a better operator if one comes along.