By Bill Mason
BRISBANE — The Queensland government faces a possible $1 billion loss in anticipated income from a bank merger deal aimed at creating a large Queensland-based private bank, according to state financial sources.
The new bank would merge Metway with state-owned Suncorp and the Queensland Industry Development Corporation. Shares in the new super-bank would be sold off to private investors.
However, current estimates of the profitability of Metway suggest a large "black hole" between government estimates of its worth and the huge investment of public funds needed to carry the merger through.
"The whole operation is an underhand method of privatising Suncorp and the QIDC", John Nebauer, Brisbane organiser of the Democratic Socialist Party, told Green Left Weekly. "The Nationals could not get away with selling off Suncorp directly because of the likely public outcry, so they have come up with this risky scheme to buy up Metway shares and force a merger between the three institutions. It stinks of Queensland Inc."
Union leaders warn that the merger will lead to the closure of more than 100 branches and the loss of up to 1200 jobs, affecting rural Queensland most severely. Opposition to the merger from unions and the community is likely to create a major political problem for the Coalition government in coming months.