Public Ownership Policy Summary

Keeping public assets in public hands

The Greens oppose the privatisation of public utilities, services and other essential infrastructure. Public ownership protects the public interest. Privatisation places at risk the environment, employment, services and, in some cases, revenue streams for government.

Unlike government owned and controlled enterprises, corporations are profit driven and have no interest in supporting unprofitable but socially important services.

The Greens actively supported the campaign to stop the Iemma and Howard government’s attempted sale of Snowy Hydro. The water, electricity and environmental values of Snowy would have been badly compromised by private ownership. Community opposition defeated the sale but we remain concerned that Labor and Coalition governments may try it again.

Like the Snowy, most public assets were built and paid for by generations of taxpayers and citizens to provide services for all. They should be held in trust for future generations, not sold for short-term political or financial gain. Many of these assets, such as school lands, are almost impossible to replace once they have been sold.

Supposed ‘increases in productivity’ that allegedly accompany privatisations are usually the result of: reductions in the quality of service; cut-backs on environmental controls, maintenance and safety; and cuts to the workforce, wages and conditions. Privatisation is almost always followed by price rises, over which the public no longer have control. Public private partnership (PPPs) projects like Sydney’s Cross City Tunnel have proved to be a  disaster. Using private corporations to finance, build and operate this and other infrastructure projects has lead to a loss of accountability and increased costs to the public in the long run.

The Greens vision is for a rejuvenation of the public sector. With new leadership and a new sense of mission, public enterprises can become partners with consumers and address the key challenges facing society. Public ownership can maintain quality employment, lead to reductions in energy consumption and foster clean, renewable energy sources.

The Greens support:

• public funding, ownership and control of public schools, hospitals and transport;
• provision of core government services by government enterprises, not out-sourcing;
• a complete ban on PPPs for essential infrastructure and services including school buildings, roads, transport and prisons;
• public ownership of the NSW electricity industry and water utilities; and
• where possible, a return to public ownership of privatised public services, infrastructure and enterprises.