Shadow Treasurer accuses government of “secret agenda” after comments on privatisation

A senior Liberal party member has ignited a war of words after he doubled down on whether the government would continue to privatise the state’s assets.

NSW Labor has accused the government of a “secret privatisation agenda” after a senior minister refused to rule out the potential for selling off the state’s assets, saying there is “nothing wrong with privatisation”.

Speaking at the Property Council of Australia’s Western Sydney Outlook conference, the Liberal Minister for Transport, Veterans and Western Sydney, David Elliott said asset recycling will continue to be an option for governments, even if there were currently no confirmed plans.

“There are no plans for privatisation but that’s not to say that privatisation won’t occur, because there’s nothing wrong with privatisation,” he said on Tuesday morning.

“There is no ideological difference between Labor and Liberal when it comes to privatisation because we’ve both done it, we both do it, and we both will do it.”

Minister for Transport, David Elliott said there was “nothing wrong” with privatisation. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ David Swift

He also highlighted the sale of Qantas and the Commonwealth Bank which occurred under the government of former Labor prime minister Paul Keating.

Furthering his point, Mr Elliott said “there’s no way in the world” that Opposition leader Chris Minns could “put his hand on a Bible right now and say that there will be no privatisation”.

“Saying there will be no privatisation in my mind is dishonest because governments sell assets, governments create industries, create networks, create opportunities, and then they sell it,” he said.

Shadow Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said Mr Elliott’s words were proof of the government’s secret privatisation agenda.” Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

Shadow Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said Mr Elliott’s comments were proof of a “secret privatisation agenda”.

In the lead up to the March 25 state election, Mr Minns has repeatedly criticised the government of selling state-owned assets, and blames privatisation for the increasing costs of power bills and toll roads.

“Dominic Perrottet and Matt Kean can’t get the story straight on further privatisation from this government,” he told NCA NewsWire.

“But David Elliott, a member of the government with nothing to lose in the next term of parliament, has come clean about the government’s secret privatisation agenda.”

Mr Elliott denied Mr Mookhey’s allegations.

“Mookhey should get his facts right before he commented because I specifically said there are no plans for further privatisation but Labor have a hide complaining about it given they sold Qantas, The Commonwealth Bank and tried to sell the state’s electricity assets last time they were in power,” he said.

The Opposition Leader has long criticised the government for selling off the majority of Sydney’s toll roads, which are operated by Transurban. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

Whether a Coalition government would privatise further state assets has been a key question faced by the NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and Treasurer Matt Kean in the last week.

In the first leader’s debate of the election campaign, Mr Perrottet said Labor would not be able to fund their infrastructure projects without funding from privatisation, a process Mr Minns likened to “flogging off the family jewels”.

“What you’re saying is, you’re not going to privatise anything. Is that not going to leave you with your hands tied? When it comes to building stuff that NSW needs?” said Mr Perrottet in the radio debate moderated by 2GB’s Ben Fordham.

On Monday, both Mr Kean and Mr Perrottet maintained there are “no plans” for further privatisation, but cited an economic strategy that involved asset recycling (another term for privatisation) and borrowing money to fund the government’s economic strategy.

However, previously speaking to reporters on Friday, Mr Kean unanimously ruled out privatising Sydney Water and Hunter Water.

NCA NewsWire has approached the Premier and the Treasurer’s offices for comment.

Originally published as Shadow Treasurer accuses government of “secret agenda” after comments on privatisation