While Labor welcomed most of the proposed changes to GBE governance proposed by the Liberals yesterday, the proposal in its entirety is riddled with risks and raises the concerning prospect of privatisation.

Worryingly, the Liberals’ proposal outlines that the government will actively investigate privatisation of some GBEs, with transport and energy related businesses “the initial priority focusses for such a review”.

The Liberals needs to come clean about what’s on the table here.

It’s disingenuous to open such a review without providing any indication about the government’s position on the privatisation of GBEs which are supposed to serve the state.

The Premier was quick to rule the privatisation of Hydro, but the fact he won’t do the same for TasNetworks, Aurora or the other GBEs speaks volumes about their intentions.

And how on earth will privatising our energy and transport businesses do anything to fix the Spirits mess of his creation which sparked this process?

What we do know is that privatisation often ends in increased user costs and decreased service – which all Tasmanians would agree is something we can’t afford right now.

Josh Willie MP
Shadow Treasurer