Governance of Public Corporations: Profits and the public benefit

Government departments and statutory boards have been replaced by government owned corporations which, in turn, have frequently been privatised or replaced by private contractors. This chapter organises that the organisation of government services before the period of market-oriented reform is described and critically assessed. Market-oriented reform is discussed in terms of the concept of a 'reform spectrum', beginning with full-cost pricing or 'user-pays' and ending with privatisation. Prospects for a 'counter-reformation' involving the restoration of more direct public control over the provision of services are assessed. The policy had been conceived by bureaucrats as a way of implementing reform without consulting an electorate which was clearly showing signs of 'reform fatigue'. Under National Competition Policy, such arrangements are considered, prima facie, to be anticompetitive, and governments are required to consider the following range of reform options: full cost pricing; competitive tendering; commercialisation; and corporatisation. The chapter concerns the gradual conversion of statutory authorities into government business enterprises.