Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Queensland Government Asset Sale - million dollar promotion

To convince Queenslanders it's a good idea to sell off assests.

Anna Bligh et al are blaming the GFC for the sale, which they say is needed to provide infrastructure, but really, it's their awful mismanagement under Beattie and now Bligh that's made them lose money hand over fist - honestly, it's amazing.
What are they going to sell? Well, here's a list:

  • Forestry Plantations Queensland (the trees not the Crown land)
    Port of Brisbane
  • Queensland Motorways Limited (the tolling rights on the Gateway and Logan motorways not the road and bridge infrastructure)
  • Abbot Point Coal Terminal (north of Bowen)
  • Queensland Rail’s (QR) coal transport business and assets.
  • The Government is also examining the potential sale of other commercial parts of QR but is NOT selling QR's public passenger services, or the State's rail network (other than coal lines).

The Government is selling these assets to prioritise spending on its public infrastructure building program, which is moving Queensland through the worst global recession in 70 years and protecting 127,000 local jobs.

And this is rich:

Why the Government is selling these assets
Responding to the global recession
The financial benefits of selling
Why these assets were chosen
A focus on public infrastructure

Find out more
When and how they will be sold
Asset sale success stories
Employment guarantees
Assets sale myths and facts

In the section "Asset sale success stories". There's no mention of Energex.

Link to the site is here.

Myths and facts site link are here.

It's stated that this is not a "fire sale". Well, in the current economic crisis how is selling these assets NOT a "fire sale"? How have they made these supposedly loss-making assets appear attractive so that they can be sold?

And this:

MYTH: A private company will charge excessively for the Gateway/Logan tolls.

FACT: The Government will legislate a toll level at the point of sale and then allow that toll to rise only with inflation post the sale.

Like the example of the Brisbane Airport. Now you are not permitted to park anywhere along the motorway leading from the Gateway Arterial Road to the airport. It is customary in my family to pick up out the front of the airport when family or friends arrive, it's a lot less costly than parking and waiting (I know plenty of people who do this). Now (and for a while) you can be fined for parking anywhere along the road. This is wrong, especially when you have to travel from some distance to the airport and that's an added cost. Public transport is available for some, but I'm afraid that the absolute last thing that I want to do after flying to somewhere is to get on a train or a bus (or both or several!), and spend my valuable time, perhaps the same length of time as the flight, using public transport (train or bus), to get home - I just want to get home.

I wonder.

Anna Bligh and the ALP Qld Government? Trust them as far as I can kick them.

4 comments:

stackja1945 said...

Now we know why early election was called.

kae said...

Hi Stacks
Yeah, that and sooooo much more.
She's already spouted the line that she's got a mandate as she was elected and that means that she can do what she wants and to hell with the constituents of Qld.

Anna's toast.

Carpe Jugulum said...

OMFG, Victoria is a shambles but, wow, you guys are screwed.

kae said...

Hi Carpe.
I think I need to put in an update... hang on... (what I really need to do is have a shower... NOW)