The Tasmanian government has officially abandoned its controversial plan to explore the partial privatisation of state-owned enterprises, as it braces for an early election.
The move comes after a no-confidence motion in Premier Jeremy Rockliff was passed in Parliament at the start of June, backed by Labor, the Greens, and crossbench members.
A key factor behind the motion was concern over the government’s intention to sell off public assets, such as Metro Tasmania, in a bid to reduce the state’s growing debt.
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In response to the political fallout, Rockliff announced that the privatisation agenda had been scrapped.
“There will be no privatisation under the Tasmanian Liberal government,” Rockliff says.
“We will also introduce legislation to ensure that any sale of a government business must have two-thirds majority support in Parliament.”
Economist Saul Eslake had been engaged by the government to examine which government business enterprises might be suitable for sale. His early advice had already ruled out options such as Port Arthur and TasRacing, with the government also declaring that Hydro Tasmania and TT-Line, which operates Spirit of Tasmania, were off-limits.
Eslake’s final report was expected on June 30, but Rockliff confirmed the process would not continue, instead accusing Opposition Leader Dean Winter of mounting a “scare campaign” to trigger an early election.
Winter and transport shadow minister Meg Brown released a joint statement saying Rockliff “can’t be trusted”.
“There’s one simple reason Jeremy Rockliff can’t be trusted on privatisation: he’s never respected our public assets,” the statement reads.
“Jeremy Rockliff has been disrespecting and running down Metro for years.
“He cut nearly 200 daily routes back in 2023 and called it a “temporary service adjustment”. Those services are still cut. It is impacting Tasmanians every single day, whether they are trying to get to work, school or to the services they rely on.”
They accuse Rockliff of “waging war” on the wages and conditions of bus mechanics, increasing pay of management roles and not delivering of promises of driver safety.
“Why would anyone trust Jeremy Rockliff to save Metro, when he’s the one who’s run it off the road?”
The privatisation of Metro Tasmania has been a large topic of conversation this year, with multiple protests held by the Members of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) and MPs.
“Metro has been in a state of crisis for two years now. This comes as a result of government underfunding, on road safety issues and a management team that are not held to account for creating a poor organisational culture,” RTBU Tasmania secretary Byron Cubit told ABC.
“Public transport is a community service, not a profit making industry, therefore it is best placed in public hands.
“Kinetic have expressed their interest in taking over Metro. They have already bought out the majority of the competition in the private bus industry in Tasmania, so selling Metro would create a private monopoly over a community service. That is an unacceptable situation.
“Privatisation is not good for community services like public transport, let alone one with a small consumer base like Tasmania has.”
Cubit says governments need to be held to account when the services it delivers are struggling.
“As Metro has been underfunded for over a decade, it requires funding to get it back on track and stabilise the workforce. In addition to this, delivering on safety improvements and weeding out malicious managers would address the day to day concerns of the drivers.”
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