Critics dismissed the proposal as a last-ditch effort to win votes ahead of Queensland’s state election in October. But public opinion on how the government should get involved in markets may be shifting.

Queensland’s Labor government turned heads last week with a bold new election promise. If returned to power, it would set up 12 state-owned petrol stations and limit fuel price rises to just five cents a litre on any given day.

The proposal certainly tapped into a pain point for Queenslanders – Brisbane topped national petrol price rankings last year.

But it was quickly met with a predictable pile on from opposing political commentators, industry bodies and some economists, attracting labels like “risky” and “dumb and stupid”.

Mark McKenzie, chief executive of the Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association, called it a “wildly bizarre intervention” in the retail fuel market.

So is the Queensland premier really out of his mind, trying to win votes less than three months out from an election? Or is there actually some merit to this proposal?

  • 𝚝𝚛𝚔English
    41·
    3 months ago

    But more often than not, Australia’s citizens found themselves little better off if at all. This turned out to be a common international experience for other countries privatising their utilities.

    Name one thing that’s been privatised that has resulted in any combination of better product, better service, or better price?

    • ZagorathEnglish
      15·
      3 months ago

      Your comment couldn’t have been clearer, but 3 out of the 4 replies to it seem to have interpreted it to mean exactly the opposite of what it says.

      Either that, or those three comments are incredibly fucking dumb and their idea of “better product” is “more money for corporations”.

        • ZagorathEnglish
          2·
          3 months ago

          Yes, your comment was the one out of four that wasn’t stupid.

            • ZagorathEnglish
              3·
              3 months ago

              Ah yeah, your instance is defederated from Beehaw, which is where one of the three errors came from. (They said “water/sewer systems”.)

              • Jumuta@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                2·
                3 months ago

                oh right, I forgot beehaw defederated from world and shit because of mass signups

                that was so long ago, do you know how beehaw is doing?

                • ZagorathEnglish
                  2·
                  3 months ago

                  I couldn’t tell you how they’re doing with much confidence, but their communities all seem pretty good to me.

      • Dave.English
        4·
        3 months ago

        Telecom wasn’t exactly a shining example of a government run service though.

        Side note: Bring back the CES , privatised job search is an absolute fucking disaster.

    • Jumuta@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      22·
      3 months ago

      anything that benefits from/has potential for innovation really (things like launch vehicles), but public services and fully optimised industries whose only method of “improving efficiency” is enshittification should be owned by the people

    • HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com
      15·
      3 months ago

      rapid transit. chicagos el system the various lines were all independently owned but now they are part of one system with free transfers between them and even bus and train.