Court plans big privatisations in WA

Issue 

By Rodney Cheuk

PERTH — Part 2 of the McCarrey Report, outlining the Court Liberal government's agenda of privatisation and corporatisation, was released on August 30.

Written by former under-treasurer Les McCarrey, it proposes a major revolution for WA's public service and a billion dollar privatisation sale over the next two years. Four other sectors are recommended for restructuring over the next five years, to be suitable for privatisation in the future.

The report recommends the sale of R&I Bank, SGIO, Chemistry Centre, Transperth Bus and Railways, State Print, hospital and laundry services, Gold Corporation, country prisons, BOCS Ticket Office and nursing homes.

The construction and design arm of the Building Management Authority is to be axed, as well as 50 schools, the Kalgoorlie and Bunbury passenger services, Stateship north-west service, "under-used" country hospitals, state government warehouse and the Government Mail Service.

The privatisation in five years could includes parts of the State Electricity Commission, Water Authority, WestRail and Health Department.

The central theme of the report is injecting competition into the public sector, in line with Premier Richard Court's dogma that "the public sector is fundamentally flawed because it does not have to face competition".

The public sector is to be made to compete on equal terms with the private sector, which includes working in the same industrial relations framework.

With the majority of workers in the private sector un-unionised and often working under below-award conditions, a level playing field between public and private sector would force the loss of wages and conditions.

Bindy Other-Gee, the executive director of the WA Council of Social Services, said in the West Australian on September 1 said that the efficiency drive would hurt people with disabilities, people needing community services and those looking for low cost housing. She said that the theory of business doing a better job than the public sector had been tried and had failed in the US and Britain.

The report misses the point that social services meet real needs and are necessary to the community as a whole. Trades and Labor Council secretary Rob Meecham said, "The report attempts to cut back drastically on the provision of services in the community that people cannot afford for themselves. There is an assessment that the services are necessary and have to be subsidised. The hidden agenda of the McCarrey Report is to attack this provision of services ..."

At the TLC meeting on September 7, unions called for statewide industrial action to oppose any attempts by to implement the McCarrey report. The campaign would include rolling strikes.

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