The group of economists, which include Reserve Bank director Warwick McKibbin, Henry Ergas and a host of academics, said in a joint statement yesterday the Queensland Government's case for selling road, rail, port and forestry assets was based on ''spurious claims''.
''The people of Queensland deserve a robust and well-informed public debate over the costs and benefits of privatisation.
So far they have not received it,'' the economists said.
Their criticisms echo a union-commissioned report on the privatisation. University of Sydney professor Bob Walker found that the Government had overstated how bad the state's finances were and made misleading claims to justify the asset sell-off.
University of Queensland fellow in economics John Quiggin hopes the economists' joint statement will add credibility to the widespread public criticism of the Bligh Government's privatisation rationale.
''I would be very surprised if you could find a senior independent economist who would endorse [the Government's privatisation justifications],'' Professor Quiggin said.
Ms Bligh's plan - not revealed to voters until after she was re-elected in March - has sparked public anger at the Government. Polls suggest 80 per cent of Queenslanders oppose the asset sell-off and the ALP's support has tumbled.
No comments:
Post a Comment