Des Moore is such a horrible person, i find it hard to believe that OLO keeps printing his ravings.
Why doesnt some Union Official bite his head off.

Privatisation has been benificial to society and the individual like: Cross City tunnel, HIH, Sydney Airport etc, etc. We need more of it so the share holders can become wealthy manipulators of society and Government for their purpose. Rip off the serfs and controll them. At least with governments we can turf them out if they act irresopnsibly, which we can't with private sector companies with 75 year sealed contracts.

The arguments used by proponents of privatisation arrangements usually come down to two elements: 1. That the private sector has access to cheaper capital, or more cleverly structured finance; and 2. That private sector managers are more capable, more efficient, and motivated than public servants.

Neither of these arguments can be sustained in the face of independent, objective economic analysis.

"Better services"? You must be kidding. Put "the big pong down under" into your search engine . . . You'll see what I mean.

Des Moore seeks to promote a number of ongoing fallacies:

1. That 'privatisation' is the same as 'corporatisation'.

2. That corporatisation will lead to lower prices and charges (including taxes) for resident taxpayers...already soundly disproven in the manufacturing, primary industries, service industries...and on it goes.

3. That wiping out our home grown industries, etc. will advantage us and our nation in any way...check out what pollutants and chemical cocktails are present in imported foods while our own producers maintain stringent regulations on food quality and chemical, etc. usage. (Who wants to import eggs? Now likely in the immediate future...)

4. That opening our IR laws and workplaces to deregulation and cheap imported labour will provide 'benefits' to our workers or this nation. Check out the good'ol'USofA where lower paid workers are forced to work two or three jobs and still can't afford even basic health care, let alone luxuries.

5. That the Australian public are as stupid as he thinks...

6. That it is desirable to have all the major political parties supporting the policies designed by the corporate bosses and well funded by massive election donations to all their election funds. No opposition means no accountability.

7. That these treacherous and treasonable policies won't come back to bite him and all of us...

'And because an increased private sector role offers potential for a lower level of taxation as well as better services, it is difficult to see that any government implementing a pro-private sector role would fail electorally.' National Competition Policy has failed to deliver on all accounts...to the people. In fact, the political donations funds and the corporate executives salary increases are the real beneficiaries...with a 29% corporate failure rate in this country, one would think that some competitive culling would be in order in the corporate world...not the massive grants directed there, obscene salary packages and political back-slapping that abounds.

Did anyone see a few years ago, perhaps in the late 1980's or in the early 1990's Des Moore's appearance on a current affairs program on ABC TV run in a style similar to SBS's Insight with a panel of one or more invited guests and an audience participating in the discussion?

The invited guest was David Suzuki and Des Moore was in the audience.

I don't remember all the details of the discussion, but Des Moore was arguing that government intervention to protect our environment from private enterprise was unnecessary.

David Suzuki then pointed out to Des Moore that we only have one planet. If we did as Moore suggested and, as a result, destroyed this planet, we would not have any other planet to move to. He asked Des Moore would he be prepared to risk that in order to put his beliefs to the test.

Moore responded, "Yes".

To this the astonished David Suzuki responded, "Then you, sir, are a fool!"

Seems like Government-Private-Dictatorships (GPDs) under the guise of Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs) are on-the-nose.

What we need is true PPPs. The only way to get that is for the public to be involved with the tender process. Now that would be messy unless:

* The current system of ex-government ministers and public servants working for the tenderers be outlawed.
In systems Analysis this practice is equal to positive feedback and in any system that leads to instability. It is the ONLY reason for the failure of the RTA and the Cross City Tunnel (CCT).

* All contract conditions for PPP contracts must be made PUBLIC. Any secret conditions like those surrounding the CCT should be made legally UNbinding.

* At least 3 months must be allowed after the contract conditions are made public to enable voters to debate the effects they will have and whether pricing is acceptable.

Now these changes will hinder and delay PPPs. No one wants that. But I submit, if PPPs were done with creative intent rather than a predatory intent, ways could be found to make future PPPs mutually beneficial to both public and private sector alike. Governments and government officials will have to forgo their glory and their kickbacks for this to work. I don't believe that will be as big a problem as disheartened voters might think. Private enterprise will woo the main man every time and if that man is the 'man in the street' they will find a way and we will get the infrastructure we want at a mutually agreeable price.

However one fly remains in the ointment. 100,000 new people come to Sydney every year under a biased Howard immigration package. Immigration to SYDNEY must stop until the current infrastructure crisis is at least under control. If people continue to only want to come to Sydney then total immigration targets must be cut drastically. You cannot solve the infrastructure problems of a sprawling city like Sydney and manage NSW if objectives are continually undergoing ENLARGEMENT. Eventually people must force Howard to accept responsibility for this.

Privatization is to me, one of the dirtiest words in our current political landscape.

Every time the Commonwealth Bank increases some fee, or adds a new charge, I curse the Labor Government for privatizing it.

When I ring Telstra to complain about them increasing charges to my ISP, who in turn is now charging me more, and am basically told bluntly "Its competitive market...shop around" sure.. shop among the others who rely on Telstra to supply them wholesale net work access..
- I feel sick.. and curse the Liberal government for selling a profit making concern in return for short term ONCE only cash injection.

Last night I had a dream. We were at some camp/retreat situation, and KIM BEASELY was there... toward the end of the dream, I said to my fellow campers "I'm going for a run".. then, b4 I went, I thought .."Hey.. this is an opportunity to ask Kim about why they privatized the CBA and to ask about the financial dynamics of the fantastic dental scheme for health card holders".. but he started to glaze over and trailed off in political woffle and I woke up.

Give me a political party which has the people at heart.. (yes, I want a peoples bank, and a health card holders dental scheme)
and is willing to promote national identity, secure and non threatening immigration policies, is not linked to either Big Business or Big Labor, does not have psychological and moral problems like the Greens and Democrats...and they have my vote.

Woops... I think that dream is still going on......zzzzzzzzzzz

KAEP.. wise words indeed mate... I read your post again and thought it deserved comment and serious encouragement...

I hereby appoint you as 'Infrastructure Minister' in our new party :)

Any Accountants nearby ? You can be 'Peoples Bank' director !

Dentists ?

I'll meet you all in Puchbowl Park, and we can launch the party..

I'll take on "Immigration/Resettlement/National Identity" and I'll have about 50 well trained security guards and maybe a few Rotties on hand :)

P.S. I'm from/in Melbourne, but would make the trip for this.

I notice that Des Moore once worked for Treasury and probably left before the concept of natural monopolies became a widespread concept.

Stated simply utilities are considered natural monopolies. Would Victorians explain the advantages of chosing who sends your electricity or gas bill when the gas is still pumped out of Bass Strait and the electricity is still generated in Yallourn. The diseconomies of scale of having 5 seperate billing databases for a population of 2 million customers must be enormous. I shudder at the thought of 6 electricity CEO's on $500,000 when we used to have 1 CEO paid $200,000.

Sadly Victorians have experienced how accountants define a 99% service level, when the natural gas facility was inoperable for 3 weeks in 1997. Engineers had built a system with built in redundancy but accountants averaged the down time over the 30 year operation of the plant.

Can you imagine being able to chose which toll road you will take to get to the CBD or drive along to bypass the CBD. Cities would be a spagetti like maze of roads. Clearly roads are also another natural monopoly.

Outsourcing services - well Des must have a real chip on his shoulder or really be out to lop the tall poppies and very pleased that the business of government is in the secure hands of low paid Indians, while Australian graduates work at McDonalds.

Des Moore's brief foot in the puddle comments indicate what is wrong with Australian governments.Australian parents are forking out millions in fee paying private schools is a saving to the Australian Public.The reverse is the fact. The reason why these schools exist is because state schools have become the scum of the education system.
State school students receive a second class education that prepares them for a life of unskilled work.This has been quantified by the recent results that South Australian state schools have the counties lowest score for higher maths. At the same time the Adelaide City Council is advertising for local Employers to get overseas Skilled migrants if they cannot find an Australian. The morale of students in South Australia is at an all time low with no school pride such as a school blazers being worn or infact any uniform unless you are sporty enought to represent your school in sport when a uniform is provided.
Australian youth today do not see their State governments doing projects such as the Snowy Scheme or Brown Coal mines but see the government selling assets to overseas investors who have never been the victims of the Australian Taxation system which rips off local young employees to the tune of 20,30,40 or even 50% tax on their personal income then sells assets to Asian entrepenous who have never paid personal tax,and have accumulated wealth TAX FREE.
Asian students have even been allowed to study in Australia on the cheap.Their parents who pay no local tax both in their country or Australia.Have paid fees to the schools for their years of education.
These fees do not in anyway reflect the millions of dollars of inferstructure that ordinary Aussies have paid for, over a century.

I am reluctant to accept the view that there are real benefits from PPPs.

I can accept that it is a role for governments to outsource work that the private sector now does, eg, printing of government reports, and that it should be an aim to encourage beneficial competition, eg, breaking up electricity monopolies. (I can't help but say that breaking up Telstra would probably be the biggest single long term competitive benefit to the Australian economy). I can even accept that there are cogent arguments for outsourcing of certain public sector functions, although I think the cost benefits are rarely examined closely.

But I think PPPs are the junk bonds of private sector involvement with government. I think the key differences with PPPs is the loss of government control over public service delivery and the limits that these contractually provided services impose.

I don't believe government at any level is up to the task of negotiating PPPs, or ensuring that it is the public that benefits and actually receives the public goods being paid for. PPPs would seem to be good news for businesses wishing to gouge the unsuspecting Australian taxpayers.

Not a single post in support of Des Moore! I'm impressed!

Don't need to say any more, except this:

Just how is the financing of private schools a "saving" to me? If I can't afford to send my kids to one, then I'm paying double - first for the subsidies to the private school I can't afford, and second for the state school that I hope will be able to provide everything my kids need when they attend.

I wonder how long Des Moore would survive if he were sent off to Bolivia to try and tell them about privatising their water supply.

Some cities in the USA have taken back control of their water supply (so they can safely drink the water) and their electricity supply.

The private jail system in the USA seems to work well for the shareholders,they manage to have far more people in jail than any other country in the world.

I suspect that our system of political donations (called bribery in third world countries) already means that our government is already privatised.

Let's not forget, Petal, that parents of private schoolkids pay taxes too. If you are paying double, then they are paying triple:
1) Paying to send their kids to a private school
2) Paying taxes to fund the private school
3) Paying taxes to fund the state schools.

Two points, otonoko:

1. How many of those private school parents actually DO pay tax?
2. If a private school parent decides to change their child's school to a state school, then they can do so with no difficulties whatsoever.

I don't have that option, so I'm paying for something I can't AFFORD to use.

Yes its fantastic that people are awake to the evil that is Des Moore.
He will keep publishing though.
I suspect Opus Dei like, he enjoys a good flogging.

Hi Petal,

I'd say most private school parents DO pay tax. My parents did, and we were never wealthy. I appreciate your concern, but I do believe there is a legitimate place for private schools in our country. I would have been swallowed whole and spat out in little pieces if I had been a student at the school at which I now teach. If nothing else, my private education sheltered me from the realities of the world at I time when I did not need to face them. My family went without a lot of luxuries for that privilege, and I don't regret it.