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Divestment Of Commonwealth Public Enterprises In Australia: The Cupboard Is Bare

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  • Chris AULICH
  • Stephen JONES
  • Brian HEAD

Abstract

Public enterprises have played a major role in the national development of Australia since the early years of European settlement. More recently, especially since the 1980s, Australian governments at national and state levels, involving political parties of both the left and right, have undertaken a program of major reform of their public sectors. The relentless pace of reform has been driven by a variety of motives from pragmatic through to ideological, within a broad consensus that private delivery of services should be privileged over public. As a result, discourse about public enterprises in Australia has tended to focus on divestment and windfall revenues to assist governments to balance their budgets. The analysis in this paper will detail the major players at the national level, their governance arrangements and some consideration of how these enterprises have performed. We will also outline how the public mission of public enterprises has transformed in recent decades from a role as nation builder to one as enabler of services. In conclusion we will consider the long‐term outlook including the loss of public value with declining standards of service and the reduced opportunities for further divestments with pressure on governments to seek alternative savings and revenue arrangements.

Suggested Citation

  • Chris AULICH & Stephen JONES & Brian HEAD, 2018. "Divestment Of Commonwealth Public Enterprises In Australia: The Cupboard Is Bare," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(3), pages 475-490, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:annpce:v:89:y:2018:i:3:p:475-490
    DOI: 10.1111/apce.12171
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Malcolm Abbott & Bruce Cohen, 2014. "A Survey of the Privatisation of Government-Owned Enterprises in Australia since the 1980s," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 47(4), pages 432-454, December.
    2. Chris Aulich & Janine O'Flynn, 2007. "From Public to Private: The Australian Experience of Privatisation," Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(2), pages 153-171, December.
    3. Katrina Di Marco & Mitchell Pirie & Wilson Au-Yeung, 2009. "A history of public debt in Australia," Economic Roundup, The Treasury, Australian Government, issue 1, pages 1-15, March.
    4. Chris Aulich, 2015. "Airport Privatisation in Australia: A Tale of Three Cities," Applied Finance and Accounting, Redfame publishing, vol. 1(1), pages 1-11, February.
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