Most of Australia’s past privatisations have been anti-competitive and created private monopolies, resulting in worse outcomes for consumers and taxpayers.
Our politicians pursued this agenda because it allowed them to deliver both lower taxes and reduced public debt (in the short-term) simply by transferring the ownership of monopolies from public to private ownership. They also erroneously assumed that privatisation would achieve more efficient outcomes, which has in many cases proven wrong.
Rather than improving efficiency, the new private owners have generally used their market power to force-up user costs and boost their profits.
