Seller’s remorse casts shadow over infrastructure needs
Privatising roads and ports gave state governments plenty of cash to fund new work. But NSW’s struggle with $64 toll roads shows there is a long tail of consequences.
Every time a government privatises an asset, it is selling a contract.
If it wants a big price, it can soup up the terms in the contract and pretty quickly turn a $2 billion sale price into $10 billion. That means more money today to tip into new infrastructure works or community programs, and makes it easier to justify selling the state-owned asset in the first place.
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Anthony Macdonald is a Chanticleer columnist. He is a former Street Talk co-editor and has 10 years' experience as a business journalist and worked at PwC, auditing and advising financial services companies. Connect with Anthony on Twitter. Email Anthony at a.macdonald@afr.com
