Privatisation is deeply unpopular with voters. Here's how to end it.

Political economist John Quiggin proposes to end privatization by moving to a new legal framework for governance of public services. “Crucially, the statutory authority model breaks with the idea that a corporate model, with directors responsible to shareholders is the best way to provide services to the public. In the statutory authority model, the public service objective is built into the governance of the organization, rather than being imposed. Before corporatization, Australia Post was run, not by boards and CEOs but by public commissions, including representatives of customers, workers and the community at large, and charged with meeting “the social, industrial and commercial needs of the Australian people for postal services.” Over the 15 years of operation as a statutory authority, the real cost of postal services was reduced by more than 30%, a reduction that compares favourably with the period since corporatization.”