The Age is reporting that earlier this year, Victoria’s Treasury quietly asked investment banks to analyse all government agencies to determine how much money could be made from privatising public assets.
Premier Jacinta Allan won’t speculate on how much short-term cash her government could generate by letting private corporations administer part of the state’s births, deaths, and marriages registry, which could help pay off Victoria’s mounting debt.
According to The Age, Treasury sought firms to assess all public assets four months ago. A source in investment banking claimed the post was meant to be a “catch-all look” at what the government owned and how much could be raised.
In short, it is a fire sale.
And why not? The Victorian government is broke as it tries vainly to build infrastructure to catch up with breakneck population growth:
The second factor is terrible decision-making by the Andrews and Allan governments.
Between the Eastern Freeway and the M80 Ring Road in Greensborough, Victoria’s North-East Link project was estimated to cost $15.8 billion but is now expected to cost $26 billion.
Transport experts attribute the $10 billion overspend to CFMEU disruptions, a faulty tender procedure, and expensive environmental and community design considerations.
Infrastructure experts advised the Victorian government to cancel the $200 billion Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) project, but the government persisted.
These experts said the SRL would be a $200 billion boondoggle, but the government built it anyway.
Project cancellations have already cost $1.6 billion.
It would have been much worse if the Albanese government had not already bailed Victoria out with nearly $10 billion in extra GST and co-investment into blown infrastructure projects.
Even so, Melbourne keeps getting worse anyway because everything is crush-loaded before it is even built.
Living standards for Victorians are constantly declining as a result of this pointless “rat wheel” economy and idiot politicians.
It is no wonder that Melbournians are on the streets, attacking one another.
