People's Inquiry into Privatisation

Services by citizens for citizens are important. Being a public service and NOT ‘for profit’ is extremely important – ethical supply of services. Also, accountability is IMPORTANT – and politicians who seek to distance themselves from accountability by ‘outsourcing’ public services ARE seen by the public as enemies, as disingenuous, as cowards, as evaders, as ‘selling out’ democracy and public service and inclusion and responsibility. Australians are sick to death of politicians selling our citizen’s assets. Sick to death of the provision of services shrinking yearly – and see the end target as politicians selling all we own and all we supply to our own society – selling us out and being ideologically committed to destroying Australian society and it’s values.

I would like to submit my concerns over privatisation of our public services and the impact it has of women and their communities world wide and Australia.


Mr Turnbull is determine to privatise our public services and give this control away to corporations for a profit.


Our public services should be for the benefit of Australian women and their communities not the corporate elite.


Everywhere in Australia and World wide quality public services are needed for women to fully access their rights and to live healthy fulfilling lives. Public services play a critical role ensuring that women have the social protection they need to live full and safe lives.


Privatisation has real effects and can eliminate good jobs for women in the public sector, eroding a range of public services designed in mind to support women. When these services are inadequate, women everywhere are the ones that are hardest hit more than men, filing the gap through unpaid care work.


I stand with women World wide and I do not want to see the health and well-being of Australian women being sold for a profit.


I am making a stand against the privatisation of public services in Australia and overseas. Enough is enough.


Yours sincerely


Theresa Martin

In 2014, I accompanied a person to a series of required meetings with employment agencies. He was receiving Centrelink payments and was required to attend meetings with employment agencies.

I found each of the employment agencies were just there to get funds from the Federal Government so they could continue in business. The employment agencies provided no assistance to this man to review his job applications. (I did that.) The employment agencies did not go through internet job advertisements with this person to help him identify jobs that might suit his skills and experience. (I sent a series of emails to this person suggesting possible jobs that he might apply for.)

The employment agencies provided some token generalised training for this person. They used the CV that I had helped him refine to show other trainees. The agency received funds from the Government for this course.

I was also involved in getting this person into Housing Commission accommodation. When I had finally achieved success, I found another private agency arrived on the scence and claimed success with finding accommodation.

My first hand experience with the private agencies revealed that they were a waste of public funds. They were in business purely to get Government funding for themselves. They provided no real assistance to getting this person into employment. In many ways, they were more interested in keeping this person out of a job as his disabilities meant that they got more Government funding for “helping” him.

I consider that the whole program of “support” services is largely simply propping up private companies that provide no real benefit. The payment structure is flawed.

The whole move to privatizing public services has and will continue to undermine the services which all communities and their constituents depend upon. I believe this will erode the social fabric of our society and the essential infrastructures which we all need. It would increase the disadvantage in our communities. I believe ICAC or ASIC deplored this move away from Governance and toward privatization as a move that is contrary to the public interest and I have to agree with the other comments from concerns citizens.

Public service was the butt of many jokes, as anyone who watched “Yes Minister” knows. Public service however, provides a foundation for communities to ensure that disadvantage does not exclude anyone from having access to what we would consider essential infrastructure and assistance. The older person who needs help to stay at home, a homeless student who wants to stay in school, a person who needs legal advice, those who use public transport, hospitals, schools, tafes are some examples. I have never been in a position to choose private options, and have never supported the diminishing funding to the public sector.

In Victoria we experienced the effects of privatised transport, closure of government schools, loss of police, selling off our gas and electricity providers. Legal aid, free tertiary education, minimum work conditions and wages have either been abolished or hugely diluted. There are serious problems with private job providing agencies that seem to have become the toe-cutters for Centrelink. People looking for work are not being listened to and I’ve observed great distress and hardship when benefits are immediately cut. Those who’ve been forced to take jobs in industries that they were unsuitable for, or humiliated publicly by staff. I know these are difficult areas to work in but that’s the reason we need well-trained people working with those who have mental health issues or are vulnerable in some other way.

Aged care is something more of us are having to deal with and government needs to be involved at the very least to set out a high quality of care and state of the buildings. We are being left alone to try to understand the consequences of trusting private providers in too many areas of our lives. When we needed legal aid, when our children have enrolled in courses, the wait to see specialists, traveling on public transport at night, in-home help, trying to understand details of contracts with power or phone companies and getting help when things go wrong are some of the problems we’ve encountered. Not everyone has law degrees but you need them to know exactly what you’ve agreed to.

Public funded broadcasters are vital and so is funding for art, music, science, literature, innovation, film-making and other fields of human life that challenge and nurture us. With each government’s budget we see funds unevenly distributed and as a result Australia is losing

the qualities that make human beings civil and civilized. Foreign aid has been slashed so severely that I believe it’s at it’s lowest ever level. People have lost the capacity to understand the connection between all people of the world and the peace and justice that depends on wealthy nations that invariably prosper from exploitation of poorer countries giving financial and practical help without politicising it.

Since the recession of 2008, people who advocate for social and environmental justice are being ignored or dismissed even more than usual. A “Law and Order” platform is often a vote-winner, but tackling the causes of social dislocation, disadvantage, despair and violence should be a priority of government. The disparity between public service for all and for the privileged is growing and the outcome will not be pleasant. I’m genuinely concerned for many I know, and the many who are voiceless.

Privatised services do not work. Take school cleaning, privatise and you get minimal cleaning; basically whatever the contractors can get away with. Another classic example is the NDIS, which is a shambles and is being privatised.


When will the majority of politicians get the message and start acting on behalf of all Australians an not just themselves, the rich and multinationals.


The election has quite clearly shown the government that its not trusted and the next steps could be very interesting if politicians fail to take note.

I have seen what happens when public services have been privatised. The public suffers especially the older population. I suggest that politicians start to do what they were elected to do. Look after the country and the people of this country. All I have seen is a lot of wealthy people using Australia to make themselves more wealthy.

Start taxing the large corporate companies more.

Start taxing churches.

STOP taking so much money yourselves. You have one pension system for the likes of yourselves and another for the real people. You get a pension if you leave politics early. We have to work well into our later years.

Even a reasonable wage doesn’t allow the necessities to be paid let alone a health insurance.


You do not OWN Australia. You live here. You do NOT have the right to sell any part of it or its services.

Privatisation is a mistake. Services such as health, all levels of education, power and water should all remain owned by the people. The government has no right to sell public assets. Politicians need to lower their own wages/ benefits and tax large corporations to meet funding needs.


It is intuitive that continuing privatisation will ensure that the Australian people will no longer need a government body because by removing the services a government should provide (like health, education etc) you are reducing the need for your existence.


Considering the current state of distrust by all levels of society toward each successive government I would say ‘stop privatising now’.

Supposedly Australia is a representative democracy. That means the people have control over how the government spends money and makes decisions. Privatising public services and public assets takes that control away from us step by step, reducing our democratic control over our own society. Public funded entities belong to us – the people of Australia – not to politicians, and certainly not to the private sector. People fighting for a better government system built what we have over generations through sweat and blood. Let’s not give it away for a short term cash injection.

Being an aged pensioner now, with chronic back pain, type 2 diabetes 25 yrs, and working hard all my life, I am very worried that my old age, and less than privileged lifestyle, will mean I will not be able to afford to keep up my limited health and welfare regime. PLEASE, privatization will be the death of me and many of my friends, we did NOT work our whole lives to be treated with utter contempt by OUR PUBLIC SERVANTS, they came to office promising to look after US, if they can’t do that, get out and let someone who will in, it only takes one more seat, DID they not learn anything at the last election? We the people want some rights returned to US.

Selling Public Asset’s to Corporate Identities is the only way Governments seem to raise cash for their ineptitude, firstly it is not there’s to sell, its a public asset and belongs to the People of Australia, their reasoning they say is we speak for the people, wrong the last Election proved most people have woken up. Government work in the interests of the Corporations, the taxation system proves that, not in the interests of the People, without people the whole system fails to exist, the reason PM Turnbull is against a Royal Commission into the Financial System of which he is a part off. The Unions have their failings, but without them the common man and women do not have a voice.

Hands off Medicare!

continuous reports of unsatisfactory outcomes due to provider inability to manage complex cases clouds the best intentions of NDIS goals. Disability care formerly and currently provided by FACS is the essence of good service provision for difficult and complex cases and must be retained at all cost if NDIS national goals are to be realised. I urge this enquiry to understand the importance of circumventing the NSW Govt position of total abolition of FACS services in complex disability care. Failure to retain Facs as carer of last resort in these cases will ensure the downfall of NDIS as was intended at the outset for the most vulnerable Australians. Failure to acknowledge the importance of FACS in the overall mix of services to disabled persons will eventually haunt the Government with undesirable outcomes and enormous extra costs and charges for management of existing cases as well as future and yet unborn clients. Families whose prime carers are FACS based departmental service providers are unwilling to relinquish care to outside providers due to fears surrounding the shortfall in services experienced by some whose care packages have not met expectations of their families.

Privatization is an abdication by politicians to fulfill their role as a Minister for a Department, etc. Instead of doing their jobs and being responsible they seek to out-source and thus to ‘hold someone else to blame’. Well that is a ‘cop out’ and is unacceptable to the Australian people. WE WANT public services, publicly run and owned. We LIKE to KEEP our assets – sold off so often by politicians …. and we resent politicians selling off or assets.


ALL FORMS OF PRIVATIZATION ARE AGAINST THE INTERESTS OF THE PUBLIC.


I, and other Australians, will remember those who ‘sell us out’.

I am greatly concerned that Government has developed an attitude it should not compete with private enterprise. Stability and control of public services and utilities MUST in my view remain in the grasp of the members of the community. We have already seen the increase in costs of electricity through privatisation when profits are directed to shareholders! Those who are not wealthy enough to own shares are also unlikely to afford unnecessary increases which pay shareholder dividends!

It is absolutely outrageous to privatise things like Tafe and Medicare when these are the main privileges for Australians to use especially whom have a lower income. It is an absolute insult to the history of Australia and its people that government employees like yourselves take advantage such to make an extra buck in your pocket.

Malcom, just remember you work for us, are paid by us to do as we request. You have no lawful right to sell of assets owned by the Australian people. You have made such a mess of you post to date don’t make it worse.

You are our servant don’t exceed your post.

John Samphier

You only exist to serve the population of Australia not big business stop cutting our services and giving hand outs to Large Corps.

Stop privatising our services because they are our services not yours,we the public have built them up and paid for them.

I support publicly funded healthcare, disability services and Tafe education. Since the public utilities have been privatised, cost increases have driven many people below the bread line and forced them into very low grade and poor living conditions.
If the Federal Government privatise all these services are they going to pay back the Australian people for the taxes they have paid to fund them..? It seems this Government cant support and provide the services they are paid and elected to manage. this demonstrates extreme incompetency. They should just step aside and let us, the people, set up a system of competence and equality for all people .

The privatisation of further public services like Medicare and TAFE is an absolute outrage. Australians such as myself depend on these public services. I do not support further privatisation.

I am a student of TAFE and at the moment it is all I can afford in my pursuit of higher education, which i believe should not be a privilege.


Were require public services such as TAFE, medicare and childcare to remain public.

One of the joys of my life and that of many others, particularly those on low incomes, was to send and receive cards for celebrations and Christmas. It was an important way of maintaining relationships. Since the privatisation of Australia Post the cost of sending mail has risen exponentially so that many people can no longer afford to use Australia Post.

This rise in cost is obvious in other organisations which have been privatised, particularly those which give bonuses to their CEOs.

Catharina Visser commented 1 hour ago

We need quality public services to fully access good health,education and childcare.


We have a RIGHT to services like medicare and TAFE to remain public.


I support quality PUBLIC health care , NOT privatisation.

Catharina Visser commented 1 hour ago

We need quality public services to fully access good health,education and childcare.


We have a RIGHT to services like medicare and TAFE to remain public.


I support quality PUBLIC health care , NOT privatisation.

We need quality public services to fully access good health,education and childcare.


We have a RIGHT to services like medicare and TAFE to remain public.


I support quality PUBLIC health care , NOT privatisation.