‘Economic vandalism’: Labor members decry Victoria’s next privatisation plan

Grassroots Labor members have issued a please-explain to Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas over the mooted privatisation of the state’s births, deaths and marriages registry.

Two committees of the Victorian Labor Party and one local branch have passed motions in the past month saying members are “deeply concerned” by the possibility the Allan government could partially privatise more state assets.

The Age revealed in June that Pallas had begun discussions with investment firms to gauge their interest in running some of the services of Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria after a quiet review of the state’s public agencies.

This masthead can now reveal that Victorian Labor’s industrial affairs policy committee passed a resolution last week, seen by The Age, that called for investment firms to keep their hands off Births, Deaths and Marriages.

“We resolutely oppose the privatisation, in whole or in part, of Births, Deaths and Marriages, including under any so-called ‘public-private partnership’ arrangement,” the motion said.

“The state does not have the right to privatise that which it holds in trust for the welfare of all citizens.

Labor’s policy committee has sought a meeting with Treasurer Tim Pallas over privatisation fears. Credit: Joe Armao

“This incumbent Labor government’s previous privatisations and ‘lease-offs’ of what were invaluable public assets, such as Victoria’s Port of Melbourne, Land Titles Office and VicRoads’ licence and registration arm, were disgraceful acts of neoliberal economic vandalism and a gross betrayal of basic Labor values that should never have occurred.”

The Allan government has avoided using the word “privatisation” when referring to previous ventures under its watch, such as the privatisation of some VicRoads services or the lease of the Port of Melbourne.

Ministers instead prefer the term “public-private partnership” to differentiate temporary revenue-raising measures from the permanent and complete sell-offs under the Kennett government.

Last month, the Brighton branch of the state Labor Party also passed a motion that condemned any “lease-off” of Victoria’s births and deaths registry.

“Any such move is likely to result in higher costs of service to the Victorian people as well as greater risks to the privacy and cybersecurity of users’ information,” the Brighton motion said.

In late July, the Victorian ALP’s policy co-ordination committee also condemned any whole or part-privatisation of Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria.

Clause 1.7.2 of Victorian Labor’s 2022-26 platform says the party will “ensure public services and assets remain in public hands; work to undo the damage done by privatisation; [and] seek to return public services and assets to public hands to manage and control services based on the needs of Victorian workers”.

Pallas met stakeholders last week, according to two sources not present but familiar with the discussions. In those meetings, the treasurer talked up the benefits of opening up the registry to private investment, but also stressed that no final decision had been made.

A state government spokesman said: “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 spokesman said existing joint-venture partnerships were generating strong outcomes for Victoria, with the VicRoads consortium adding $7.9 billion to the Victorian Future Fund.

This year’s budget papers forecast Victoria’s net debt to rise to $187.8 billion by June 2028. Since then, the Allan government has announced an extra $1.5 billion in hospital spending and settled a pay dispute with nurses that will amount to a more than 20 per cent pay rise over four years.

Pallas last week declined to rule out hitting Victorians with new taxes to ensure the budget returns to surplus.

Community and Public Sector Union secretary Karen Batt, who represents Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria workers, said her union would campaign against any private-public partnership and for the agency to reopen its Collins Street customer hub.

The union plans to roll out radio advertisements early this week.

“Expecting private capital to invest but not seek a return by ramping up pricing and mine opportunities from data is laughable,” Batt said.

“We intend to campaign to expose this madness. Earlier, similar ventures have been plagued with problems.”

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