Tasmania’s public transport investment continues to lag the rest of Australia. This paper outlines a long-term investment strategy to improve services, reform governance and expand public transport access across the state. It makes six recommendations and concludes with a call for leadership and policy action in the lead-up to the 2025 state election.

This paper updates a 2017 paper​ by the NSW Parliamentary Research Service. It features a timeline of privatisations that have occurred in NSW since 1989, up to the most recent sale of the Westconnex Group in 2021.

Internationally, privately-owned water systems have resulted in higher bills, largely because of rising interest costs, debt and dividend payouts. This report, commissioned by the Australian Services Union NSW & ACT, analyses the fiscal, economic and public health effects of privatising Sydney Water.

Through a broad overview of what works and what doesn’t and three detailed case studies dealing with aged care, COVID responses and the Victorian roads maintenance sector, this report shows that the Australian experience of privatisation, outsourcing and contracting of essential government services and Public Private Partnerships over three decades has been decidedly mixed.

This report recommends that the Australian government assess all current and future proposals for outsourcing government services against a ‘public interest test’, which includes flow-on economic and employment impacts.