Recent opinion polls show the Queensland Liberal-National government has 51% electoral support compared with 49% for Labor.
So it is not surprising that the privatisation rhetoric has shifted from asset sales to leasing. Under the “Strong Choices Plan”, endorsed by the government on October 7, $37 billion in public assets are to be leased to the private sector on 99-year contracts.
Premier Campbell Newman said: “Today we say very clearly the assets are not for sale.”
But Newman’s own treasurer, Tim Nicholls, said in 2010 when opposing Labor’s privatisation plans: "As anyone would know if they had observed the privatisation of assets, a 99-year lease is as good as giving away the farm.”
Privatisation has been on the agenda since March last year, when the Commission of Audit, chaired by former Liberal treasurer Peter Costello, recommended a sell-off of all government assets.
The Queensland government accepted the recommendations, but said no selling would occur without an electoral mandate. The question of asset sales was foreshadowed as a key campaign item for next year’s election.
The “Strong Choices Plan” is to generate $37 billion by leasing key public assets: energy generation (CS energy and Stanwell), electrical distribution and transmission (Energex, Ergon and Powerlink), and retail (Ergon).
Ports (Gladstone and Townsville, which also includes Mt Isa rail line) and the industrial water pipeline of Sun Water, all previously earmarked for sale, are also included in the lease plan.
Of the total projected lease revenue, $25 billion will go to the debt ($80 billion); $8.6 billion will go to community infrastructure over a six-year period to fund roads, hospitals and schools; and $3.4 billion will be allocated for a cost of living fund.
Implementation has been deferred until the election. The government has begun an advertising campaign to sell the “Strong Choices Plan” to the electorate in the lead up to the election
The Newman government, elected in March 2012 on the wave of opposition to the Labor government’s privatisation, has continued to lose public support as a result of its cuts to jobs and services in the public sector.
Opposition to asset sales has been widespread in the community.
Community campaign “Not4Sale” has dogged the government from the outset. With support from unions, in particular the Electrical Trades Union, activists from Not4Sale have held protests outside community cabinet meetings in regional centres, set up billboards on key transport routes, and distributed information on the implications of assets sales, including research by University of Queensland economist John Quiggin published in Electricity Privatisation in Australia: A Record of Failure.
The group has also campaigned in two byelections, which where won convincingly by Labor with huge swings against the LNP.
The Queensland Council of Unions has opposed asset sales, but has not coordinated a comprehensive industrial campaign in support of this position.
Instead, for the election, it plans to focus on campaigning in key marginal seats such as Brisbane Central and in Newman’s seat of Ashgrove, where current polling has him set to lose.
Regional seats where the asset leasing program will have the most impact are also a focus.
The council is not yet overtly campaigning for Labor, but it is calling to put the LNP last in key seats. This is, in effect, calling for the re-election of a Labor government. This is just a few years after the defeat of the last Labor government, which presided over a swathe of asset sales, paving the way for the current LNP attacks.
In recent weeks, Queensland's seven crossbenchers have signed an accord to fight state asset privatisation. Katter's Australian Party MPs Rob Katter, Shane Knuth and Ray Hopper lined up with independents Liz Cunningham, Peter Wellington, Carl Judge and Alex Douglas to oppose the state government's asset leasing plan.
The Greens are also firmly opposed to asset sales and have good prospects in two Brisbane seats.
Asset sales or leasing will be key issues in the coming election. Voters are already seeing through the Newman government’s “leasing is not asset sales” spin.
Whether it is an ALP or LNP victory, minor parties and independents could be the key to keeping public assets in public hands.
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