CCIQ statement regarding recent reports on QBuild privatisation
7 January
Recent reports that claim Chamber of Commerce & Industry Queensland (CCIQ) President David Goodwin has called for the sale of QBuild are incorrect.
CCIQ's position is that there is business the government is doing that can be done by the private sector and this should be looked at as a way of reducing the recurrent expenditure in the state government's budget.
David Goodwin's choice of QBuild was hypothetical and should not be taken out of context.
CCIQ believes decisions on whether to privatise an asset or to contract out should be determined according to which form of service delivery represents the best value for money for the community.
There should be no ideological presumption either in favour of or against private provision.
Sometimes the private sector is more efficient and effective at delivering services, sometimes the government is. These considerations should be the ones guiding whether or not infrastructure is privatised.
Mr Goodwin said by moving out of activities that the private sector can do better, government frees resources to provide the services and infrastructure that only it can supply.
"The private sector has the potential to deliver significant benefits including improved quality at lower cost," Mr Goodwin said.
"Greater private sector involvement will diversify and enlarge the pool of funds available to finance the construction and maintenance of infrastructure, enabling some projects to be brought forward and completed earlier than otherwise would have been the case.
For these reasons CCIQ has been very active in encouraging constructive debate on what role the private sector can play and is actively encouraging Government to consider the benefits that the private sector can provide in the delivery of Government services and infrastructure.
To read David Goodwin's comments, see the article in published today on the Brisbane Times website.
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