Privatisation makes the cost-of-living crisis worse

Privatisation has made electricity, water and road tolls, among other daily expenses, more expensive as the cost of living spikes. Our public hospitals, too, are always at risk of being sold off.

Privatisation and its impact on the cost of living is looming as a major issue in this state election. Both major parties have a track record of selling off public assets and services, but the ALP will go into the March election with a commitment to end any more privatisations.

“We’re not just opposed to privatisation – we’ll ban it,” ALP leader Chris Minns has said. Labor says $93.6 billion worth of public assets have been sold by the Coalition in the more than a decade it has been in power.

“The state used to get enormous dividends from those assets that would pay for schools and hospitals and essential frontline workers,” Chris Minns said. The Coalition has refused to rule out any further privatisations. In fact, privatisation is still a fundamental part of the party’s platform.

NSW public hospitals have not been exempt from the privatisation trend. In the 1990s, Port Macquarie Base Hospital was sold off to private operator Mayne Nickless by the then-Coalition government. In 2004, the state government had to buy back the contract at a cost of $35 million.

In 2019, the current Liberal–National government tried to sell off five NSW regional public hospitals – Wyong, Goulburn, Shellharbour, Bowral and Maitland – but were forced to back down after a fierce campaign run by the NSWNMA, with widespread support from local communities and other unions.

In northern Sydney, residents lost two public hospitals – Manly and Mona Vale – in return for the privately operated Northern Beaches Hospital.

The Liberal-National Coalition tried to sell five regional NSW public hospitals but fierce opposition by nurses, midwives and their local communities forced it to backtrack.