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@boris1gary wrote:from The Guardian CPA #1626
The Business Council of Australia has advocated privatisation of Australia Post in a submission to the Abbott governmentโs Commission of Audit. Itโs also arguing that ASC Pty Ltd (formerly the Australian Submarine Corporation), the Australian Government Solicitor, the Australian Rail Track Corporation, Defence Housing Australia, Medibank Private, and NBN Co (the National Broadband Network Company) should all be privatised.
Moreover, they want the governmentโs holdings in Snowy Hydro and other corporations, as well as valuable real estate owned by government bodies, to be sold.
Who gets rich quick?
Business lobbies and the Abbott government argue that selling government organisations makes sense because commercial firms would run them more efficiently. But firms achieve โefficiencyโ by raising the fees for services which were previously cheap or even free โ or by eliminating unprofitable services altogether. The firm benefits, the taxpayer loses.
Speaking of tax, the Tax Office intends to shed 900 jobs over the next six months, and is now seriously considering implementing a scheme known as the โExternal Compliance Assurance Processโ, under which the accountants of companies with annual turnovers of between $100 million and $5 billion, rather than the Tax Office, would determine the amount of tax the companies paid,.A spokesman for the Tax Institute declared proudly, and with a perfectly straight face: โWith the high levels of professional ethics in the profession, companies are not going to get a free rideโ
The accountancy firms these corporations have hired to help them minimise their tax liabilities are the very ones that will be expected to ensure the corporations do the right thing by the taxpayer under the new scheme. And they will still be paid by the corporations, not the government.
The scheme is clearly a case of โputting the fox in charge of the chookhouseโ.
Economists have recently stated that the government should not sell off its remaining businesses, because the former sale of Telstra, Qantas and Sydney Airport was not a good deal for the Australian public. John Quiggin from Queensland University commented: โIn general, the price received for assets has been less than their value in continued public ownership. And conversely, in cases where privatisation was proposed but did not go ahead, the actual earnings received have been more than the return from the estimated sale priceโ.
The proposal to sell off government businesses and properties must be seen as part of the governmentโs overriding strategy of facilitating private sector profitability. That involves minimising government restraints, selling off valuable government-owned real estate, privatising as many government operations as possible, helping to minimise the tax liabilities of corporations โ and suppressing organisations such as the ABC, which might offer criticism of its actions.
It's just a matter of time. No Australian government will be able to stand up to the pressure of the global financiers and corporate raiders. It would be a cataclysm, we would be sanctioned much the way Iran currently is if we dared to buck the system. It would take stronger people than Mr Abbott and certainly the likes of Mr Shorten.
"Itโs probable that public attitudes to privatisation are more a visceral response, rather than a rational consideration of economic reasons why some activities should be in the public sector and why some should be in the private sector."
"What this means, in simple terms, is that โbadโ privatisations have driven out the opportunities for โgoodโ privatisations, such as Medibank Private. Itโs the price we pay for a dumbed-down public discourse."
