http://www.world-psi.org/en/privatization-watch-012017
" Quality public services are the foundation of
democratic societies and successful economies. They ensure that everyone has
equal access to vital services, including as health care, education,
electricity, clean water and sanitation. When these services are privatised,
maximizing corporate profits replaces the public interest as the driving force.
Privatisation is a dangerous trend that must be reversed" - quote from PSI web site
Read the full Bulletin http://www.world-psi.org/en/privatization-watch-012017
Items covering the Asia Pacific Region include -
" Quality public services are the foundation of democratic societies and successful economies. They ensure that everyone has equal access to vital services, including as health care, education, electricity, clean water and sanitation. When these services are privatised, maximizing corporate profits replaces the public interest as the driving force. Privatisation is a dangerous trend that must be reversed" - quote from PSI web site
Australia
Personal data will be wide open to the private operator of the land
titles registry. They “would not only have access to all property
and ownership data, but also sensitive information about bankruptcies,
marriages, divorces and deaths, experts warn. (…) The Baird government is
privatizing the 150-year-old registry despite condemnation from peak bodies across the property and
legal sectors, including the Real Estate Institute of NSW and the
Law Council of Australia. ” The Sydney Morning Herald has declared that the land titles registry privatization should not proceed
as planned. As the battle over the government’s plan to privatise
the New South Wales land registry service intensifies, a leaked study also shows that the service is far more
valuable than was originally expected. “The bidders and the value
they see are starkly different now. Before, Macquarie suggested data companies
such as Veda and RP Data may pay up to $440 million. Now, ‘powerhouse
consortiums’ are expected to offer as much $2 billion, according to the
Australia Financial Review. (…) Property developers, real estate agents and
surveyors say it doesn't make sense to privatize a world-leading, corrupt-free,
efficient and innovative system that turns over $50 million profit a
year.” Pressure from the Public Service Association and its
serious concerns about the privatization of the Land Titles Registry has forced
NSW Premier Mike Baird to try and justify the sell off, but PSA says “his arguments were anything but convincing.”
Australia
Patients, nurses, doctors and support staff rallied
against privatization outside Port Kembla Hospital. “In a short skit
featuring Santa Claus and the Grinch, representatives acted out the 'Christmas
horror story' they claim is unfolding at local hospitals. They are
opposed to the NSW Government's plan to enter into a public-private partnership
at Shellharbour Hospital—and worry what affect that would have on services
like palliative care and rehabilitation at Port Kembla.”
Australia
Asked by a journalist what he thinks about introducing more “consumer
choice in areas such as public hospital and dental care,” Labour leader Bill Shorten says, “I don’t
trust Malcolm Turnbull or the Liberals on privatization of our healthcare
system. In the last election we’ve warned against Malcolm Turnbull’s ruthless
cuts to Medicare. They said that that wasn’t a fair criticism to make
and as soon as the election’s over, what are the Liberal’s up to again? They
haven’t reversed their cuts to Medicare. They haven’t reversed their cuts to
bulk billing. And now they’re openly toying with privatising our public
hospital and dental system. When it comes to healthcare, it’s too
important to trust Mr. Turnbull, his investment banker mates and their absolute
addiction to privatization.”
China
Shenzhen begins privatization of senior care.
“Vanke, one of the largest real estate developers in China, has teamed up
with the Shenzhen government to develop the first PPP senior community project
in the city of ten million. The developer has taken over the management and
started work on project development this month. The scheme will transform the
existing government-run community centre for senior residents in the Futian
district into a 420-bed facility with a variety of amenities including day care
and medical-nursing services. Vanke said it was chosen as the preferred bidder
in November and signed the PPP contract on 28 December. The investment size was
not disclosed. (…) The project is a pilot scheme to turn government-run senior
care facilities into private operations under a PPP framework.”
India
Workers' unions in Jind criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
government for ‘forgetting’ its pre-poll promise of ending privatization and
outsourcing in government jobs. [Hindustan Times, 12 December 2016]
India
Assam workers strike over the sell-off of cell phone towers. “Garga
Talukdar of the Joint Council of Trade Unions said the employees and
officers of BSNL will not be a party in the 'nefarious' design to kill BSNL.
(…) 'Now disinvestment of BSNL is in the pipeline. Formation of a subsidiary tower
company is nothing but a backdoor method to privatize BSNL,’ the
employees said.” [Assam Tribune, 15 December 2016]
India
Discussing her new book on India’s healthcare system, former union
secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and founding member of
Public Health Foundation of India, K. Sujatha Rao, says the country needs to renew its
commitment to the public health sector. “We have no model at the
moment. There is no vision, we don't know where we want to go. India is
confused whether it should follow in the footsteps of the US with privatization
or socialized healthcare where the government bears all costs. Each model had
its own benefits and drawbacks. We need a health system specially fashioned
to India's socio-cultural conditions. Given the disparities in our
country, the state cannot remit its responsibilities. We need more funding and
attention.”
India
Jai Mrug calls for the discussion of the future of Public Sector Undertakings to move beyond
privatization and focus instead on investment. “Clearly, strategic
investments hold the key to a runaway future of PSUs. Overall, as far as
all the PSUs are concerned there are just 30% PSUs that have a score of above
100 for strategic investments. As far as maintaining growth is concerned only
about 15% are near the industry benchmarks, while the rest are below.”
Malaysia
The Congress of Unions of Employees in Public and Civil
Services (Cuepacs) has hailed the government's decision
to require employers to pay the levy on their foreign workers, which was
effective at the beginning of this year. Cuepacs President, Datuk Azih Muda,
said “the number of foreign workers has increased since many industries in the
private sector were privatized and this has jeopardized the chances of locals
to get jobs. ‘We have seen that since the start of privatization, the
number of foreign workers has increased, where before their work could be done
by locals. Therefore, I think the levy decision is fair and good so that
the foreign workers would not become a liability to the government,’ he said.”
New Zealand
: New premier Bill English has a troubling record on public
services and privatization. “As finance minister … English has been
responsible for eight budgets that drastically underfunded health and
education, cut welfare entitlements and increased the goods and services tax,
while slashing taxes for corporations and the rich. He also oversaw the partial
privatization of power companies and devised the government’s plan to sell
thousands of state-owned houses.”
Alan Johnson calls out the role of some NGOs in fostering public housing
privatization. “The most obvious example of this complicity is with
the sale of all the state housing units in Tauranga to IHC subsidiary
Accessible Properties. This deal will involve 1140 units and will take place on
1st April 2017. The value of the deal, and the discounts and concessions
involved, have yet to be reported publicly although they are substantial. It
also seems that private investors are involved in the Tauranga deal so it
can easily be seen as privatization by stealth.”
New Zealand
A Minister who strongly defended a private prison pays a
heavy political price. “Worse than that, actually. Within days of
that speech, the Corrections Department had stepped in to take over the running
of the prison again. By December, Serco had lost the contract
to run Mt Eden. And Lotu-Iiga was dumped as minister. It was a bloody demise
for both Serco and Lotu-Iiga as months of anguish and allegations about
Mt Eden spewed forth in Parliament and the media. But did the
scandal mask wider problems going on in the prison system?”
New Zealand
The Health Sector Workers Network (HSWN) is supporting
ambulance officers from First Union, who had 10% docked from their
pay for refusing to wear uniforms during a strike action. Kieran Monaghan, a
Registered Nurse and member of HSWN, said “This whole episode highlights the
deep underfunding of our national healthcare services. Many detrimental health
impacts are now presenting from the austerity-like funding structures. These
impacts include a reduction of accountable service provision via privatization,
a crisis in Mental Health care provision from Primary Care to Crisis
intervention and inadequate health prevention and promotion, from healthy
homes, to the loss of community based health-initiatives. Some reports are
putting the health budget at nearly $1.85 billion dollars short of where we
should be… that's the real story here. And if this was not bad enough there are
the new legislative abilities employers are able to use to stop workers
organizing for better conditions.
South Korea
The National Assembly’s impeachment of Park Geun-hye will be “the
death knell” of her conservative economic proposals, including public services’ privatization. “One
such example is the Basic Act on the Development of the Service Industry, which
would provide a legal basis for financial support and deregulation in the
service sector. The bill has failed to pass through the parliamentary committee
for the past four years since it was submitted, due to discord with the
opposition, which claimed it also applies to fields that have largely remained
on a public level, such as medicine and education. They say the bill
would pave the way for the privatization of medical services, which would
result in a surge in medical costs. The government has refused to budge.”
Nevertheless, The government is planning to sell off eight of its state-run energy
companies by 2020. . “To avoid the backlash over privatization of key public services,
Korea South-East Power and Korea East-West Power will limit the number of their
publicly traded shares to 30 percent. Half of those shares will be newly
issued by the two subsidiaries and the rest in existing shares held by KEPCO, a
structure to allow the three companies to benefit from the IPOs.”
Thailand
The Finance Ministry has proposed that insurance companies be permitted to
take over the government's role in providing healthcare
coverage for state officials and their families, raising concerns. “Members of
the public and health practitioners do not appear as enthusiastic,
however. An attempt at privatization is often viewed with caution.
Since this one concerns healthcare services, literally a matter of life and
death for people, and a large sum of public money, it deserves to be considered
with utmost care.” The Bangkok Post sees the government move as inadequate:
“The country's healthcare services are in need of an overhaul. That is why the
Finance Ministry's proposal of having private insurance firms run its scheme
for civil servants is but a piecemeal effort that is unlikely to address the
real issue.”
Thailand
The Economist Intelligence Unit reports “labour unrest remains
relatively rare, but trade unions vigorously oppose any moves towards
privatization.” [EIU ViewsWire, 8 December 2016]
Vietnam
The World Bank is promoting privatization. “[World Bank Country
Director] Mr. Ousmane Dione said he and other officials of the World Bank would
continue discussing with ministries and sectors of Vietnam over issues related
to legal representatives on behalf of state stakes at certain firms, privatization
of SOEs and will submit detailed proposals to the government of Vietnam.
For his part, DPM Hue said that leaders of ministries, sectors had
working sessions with Mr. Dione and other senior officials of the World Bank to
discuss the government’s scheme on renovation of SOEs.” [Vietnam News Brief
Service, 14 December 2016]
Vietnam
The government is pushing ahead with its privatization program. It has released a
list of 137 state-owned enterprises that it would privatize, fully or
partially, between 2016 and 2020. The list includes the Vietnam Posts
& Telecommunications Group. [Asia Wall Street Journal, 10 January
2017]. However, academics Trien Vinh Le and Kris Hartley warn that privatization “raises the specter of populist blowback
and political instability—both growing trends around the world.”
