Costello audit recommends Queensland asset sales

An extract from the ABC News website:
1/03/2013

The Queensland Government says the Costello Commission of Audit advises the state to sell assets and restructure the public service.
The Commission was chaired by former federal Treasurer Peter Costello and was asked how Queensland can improve its finances and regain its AAA credit rating.
The 1,000-page final report has now been delivered and the Government will release the executive summary today.
Treasurer Tim Nicholls says its 155 recommendations include restructuring the public service and selling government-owned corporations.
"It says we still need to fix up the way those companies are operated to make sure they're running efficiently and effectively," Mr Nicholls said.
Opposition treasury spokesman Curtis Pitt says the Government wants the report to justify its privatisation agenda.

 

'Hell-bent'

"This Government is hell-bent on privatisation," Mr Pitt said.
"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realise that everything that they're doing has lent itself to looking after their mates, giving out contracts and outsourcing whatever they can."
The first audit report released in June 2012 forecast a blow-out in state debt to more than $90 billion in four years.
It recommended increases in a number of taxes and charges to return the Queensland budget to surplus.
That report suggested a capping on wages growth in the public service and has already been used by the government to justify job cuts.

 

Mandate

However, Mr Nicholls says the Government would go to an election before any assets are sold.
"This is going to be part of the debate that the people of Queensland need to have and shouldn't be afraid of," he said.
"It should be a mature debate about what is the best way to spend the funds that are tied up in government-owned Corporations and would that funding be better spent somewhere else?
"And that's the debate we need to have as a community and as a government."
The Commission also included the Public Service Commission chairman Doug McTaggart, and James Cook University vice-chancellor Sandra Harding.
It cost taxpayers around $2.2 million and Mr Nicholls says it was money well spent.
"These are people of the highest standing with a great knowledge of public finances of the state of Queensland," he said.
"This is a thorough, researched and effective report and I think the people of Queensland can be satisfied that they can get good value from the work that's been undertaken over the last six months."