Reports in yesterday’s Australian Financial Review that Airservices Australia is exploring partial privatisation should be thoroughly put to bed by the Minister, say the Greens.
Elizabeth Watson-Brown, Greens spokesperson for Transport, Infrastructure and Sustainable Cities:
“Decisions in the 90s to privatise valuable public assets like the Commonwealth Bank, CSL and Qantas have been a disaster for Australians.
“The Minister must categorically rule out privatising parts of Airservices.
“The services that Airservices oversees – air traffic control and firefighting – are an absolutely critical part of aviation safety. They cannot be compromised in any way by making the profit motive a factor in decision making.
“What we will see under this proposal is private companies taking control of these critical assets, and cutting corners on repairs and upgrades to save them money at the expense of the safety of the industry.
“Airservices already relies too much on revenue from the private sector which compromises their impartiality.
“It’s a bad deal for Australians, not only compromising safety by introducing a profit-driven “partner” for these critical services, but also hitting taxpayers who would be leasing them back anyway, costing us all in the long run.”