Victoria poised to privatise births, deaths and marriages agency as Labor eyes debt

The debt-burdened Allan government is spruiking its wholly public births, deaths and marriages agency to private investors in a bid to bolster its beleaguered finances.

Treasurer Tim Pallas has begun discussions with private equity firms to gauge their interest in running some of the registry’s services.

Treasurer Tim Pallas and Premier Jacinta Allan could privatise Victoria’s births, deaths and marriages agency.Credit: Getty Images

Pallas met with one firm last week, according to a private industry source familiar with the negotiations, and pitched the idea as a “limited-term contract” in the style of the partial privatisation of VicRoads’ licensing and registration arms – a deal due to expire in the 2060s.

The industry source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardise commercial interests, said the treasurer was “hoping to close any deal by the end of the year”.

A fresh offer from a private consortium could raise billions of dollars in the short term for Victoria’s bottom line while providing superannuation companies or others with tens of millions of dollars in guaranteed annual income from birth, death and marriage certificates.

A cabinet minister, also speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed there was a desire for several years at the highest levels of government to rebuild the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages through the private market.

“It can probably be done better,” the minister said.

The senior MP went on to say the registry would ideally be brought back into the government fold entirely once it had proven its value to the taxpayer.

The Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages has dealt with high-profile issues in recent years, particularly during the pandemic, when its offices were closed, it took months for officials to issue certificates and urgent emails went unanswered.

Asked if the agency was to be privatised, a government spokesperson instead described the preferred model as a joint venture partnership.

“Victoria’s births, deaths and marriages service will not be privatised, but we are looking at how we can continue to improve the quality of government services.”

The government still insists the partial privatisation of some VicRoads services was not privatisation, but a joint venture partnership.

Just seven months ago, the government was predicting it would be in deficit by about $1 billion by June 2025. That expected financial hole more than doubled to $2.2 billion in the May 7 state budget.

The budget papers forecast Victoria’s net debt to rise to $187.8 billion by June 2028. In simple terms, the May budget leaves Victorian taxpayers with a $25 million daily interest bill.

Labor’s primary vote has also plummeted below 30 per cent since Jacinta Allan became premier, according to an exclusive survey published by this masthead last month. The survey found two-thirds of voters wanted the government to do more to reduce debt.

But additional partial privatisation in the name of budget repair would not come without risks. The Coalition will use any proposed agreement with industry to slam the government’s management of debt and government agencies.

Coalition finance spokeswoman Jess Wilson said it was clear Labor was desperate for cash.

“Under Labor, hospitals are running out of cash, emergency payments are required to cover our interest bill and despite new taxes, service cuts and project cancellations, debt continues to climb.”

Greens treasury spokesman Sam Hibbins said industry partnerships were Labor’s way of privatisation by stealth. “What’s next?” he asked.

Labor will also be in power in Victoria for a decade come December, the timeframe Pallas has told industry he wants the agency deal signed.

Researcher Charlie Joyce, from the independent but progressive think tank the Australia Institute, said he suspected further privatisation was politically dangerous in Victoria.

“Daniel Andrews campaigned in 2022 against privatisation,” Joyce said. “He promised to bring back the State Electricity Commission. A further re-embrace of privatisation would lead to a loss in trust in the Allan government which, I think, frankly, is already fraying.”

Joyce said while Victoria’s debt levels were an important consideration, his research on privatisation showed even partial privatisation was often “short-term gain for long-term pain”.

“For something like Births, Deaths and Marriages, this is a government service that handles very sensitive information. A private owner that cuts costs on security – cybersecurity in particular – could quite quickly run into trouble.

“It would [also] be a colossal mistake to take a step that may reduce the quality of public services and increase the cost.”

Birth, death, marriage or change-of-name certificates start from $54.40 in Victoria, but registrations and commemorative certificates are more expensive. There were 72,932 registered births in Victoria last year, 29,826 marriages and 45,345 deaths.

The total administered income from identity and worker screening transactions in Victoria for the six months to June 30 last year was $33.83 million, according to the Department of Government Services’ most recent publicly available annual report.

The same report states that the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages failed to meet its timeliness target in the 2022-23 financial year.

It took the agency, on average, 10.9 days to process compliant applications for birth, death and marriage certificates in the 12 months to June last year. Its target for the period was less than 10 days.

The price of general-issue licence plates, black motorbike plates and slimline black custom licence plates all increased by $15 on January.

Driver licensing and registration aren’t the only services partly privatised since Victorian Labor came to power in December 2014.

The Port of Melbourne was leased to a private consortium for 50 years under a $9.7 billion deal in 2016 and the Victorian Land Titles Office was partly privatised in 2018 for more than $2 billion.

Last year’s housing statement also revealed Melbourne’s public high-rise towers will be handed over to private developers in the coming years as part of a mixed model.

When VicRoads was partly privatised in 2022, Pallas refused to label the development privatisation.

“This is not privatisation in anybody’s language,” the treasurer said at the time.

“We’re always looking to see how we can drive better services, better performance, but we will never divest the ownership of assets.”

The partial privatisation of VicRoads was also pitched as injecting $7.9 billion into Victoria’s coffers.

Under the VicRoads deal, the state maintains ownership of the service, the Victorian Ombudsman preserves its oversight and there were extensive talks with the Australian Services Union to ensure workers kept their jobs.

However, a consortium comprising Aware Super, Australian Retirement Trust and Macquarie Asset Management was allowed to run the agency’s licensing and registration for the next 40 years.

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