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Globalisation
Privatisation wave hits NSW06 January 2003
In a major win for the national and international privatisation lobby, nine new public schools in NSW are to be built and managed by private firms writes Fay Gervasoni from the Evatt Foundation. According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, NSW Treasurer Michael Egan claims that the $133 million deal will be $8 million cheaper than public management, or represent a saving of 4 per cent. No details were reported on how the calculation was made. The Evatt Foundation has published many articles and critiques on PPPs, which were invented by Tony Blair's UK government. Major concerns include: the methods used for calculating the public cost of capital and for allocating and privatising risks; the off-balance sheet nature of the deals; the monopoly-monopsony relations between the government and the firms; the new political and technical risks that the deals create; the implications for labour; the long-term costs; and the lack of accountability and transparency. With repect to Michael Egan's nine privatised schools, the immediate question is not whether the public will ever see the full details of the contracts: we know they never will. The crucial question is whether the the NSW Auditor-general will ever see the FULL contracts. In a stance repugnant to democratic accountability, no such commitment exists under the NSW government's PPP policy. More broadly, as the Australian Auditor-General has recently observed about 'core' services: Outsourcing and privatising areas traditionally considered public sector activities indicates that the size of the core is shrinking. A broader issue is whether, over the longer term, the public sector might diminish to a point at which it no longer constitutes a credible, effective or viable arm of sound governance. Following are the resources on PPPs on the Evatt site: Do as we say, not as we do, by George Monbiot 'The bully's pulpit' & 'Sums starting to dig in', by Paul Krugman & John Quiggin, respectivelyThe trouble with PPPs: An un-holy alliance, by Christopher Sheil The public good & public services: What role for the public sector? by David Hayward There are other ways: PPPs & public policy, by Sharan Burrow News of the world: PPPs are a disaster, By Kenneth Davidson Public fraud initiative, by George Monbiot PPPs: A policy in search of a rationale? Private finance and 'value for money' in Britain's public hospitals, by Allyson M Pollock, Jean Shaoul & Neil Vickers PPPs: Beneath the rhetoric, by John Quiggin & Christopher Sheil
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© 2001 Community & Public Sector Union - State Public Services Federation (CPSU-SPSF) - National Office http://www.cpsu-spsf.asn.au/campaigns/public_sector_wages/20030106_106.html Site proudly designed and engineered by Social Change Online |
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