The PSA CPSU NSW has highlighted two recent outsourcing failures.

“This is what happens when you sell off monopoly utilities previously owned by the people of NSW,” Mr Minns told Parliament in October in relation to the massive power outages being experienced in and around Broken Hill after storms knocked out power lines. And although storms are not the fault of privatisation, the neglect of backup generators by Transgrid, the private operator, certainly is.

PSA members and volunteers with the Rural Fire Service (RFS) were called on to help set up temporary power supplies.

“Unfortunately, this is just one of many examples of the negative impacts of privatising government assets and services,” said PSA General Secretary Stewart Little.
One of NSW Labor’s platforms leading up to the 2023 state election was putting a stop to the privatisation of state-owned assets. This policy no doubt helped Chris Minns become Premier. However, there are vestiges of the coalition’s privatisation policies that remain. In the recent local government elections, one of these NSW Liberal National Coalition policies has come under scrutiny.

In 2012 the O’Farrell Liberal National Party let private contractors bid for work against the state-run NSW Electoral Commission. During the 2012 local government elections, 14 councils engaged a private electoral services provider. However, only one council – Fairfield in Sydney’s Southwest – has utilised a private provider consistently since 2012. The vast majority of local councils have returned to using the State Government’s highly experienced department, the NSW Electoral Commission.
In 2024 though, another council gave the work to a private operator: Liverpool Council. As it turned out, this was not a great decision. Even prior to the election, Labor Leppington MP Nathan Hagarty started a petition to have Liverpool’s Mayor, Ned Mannoun reverse the decision to use a private company to run the election. Hagarty’s objection stemmed from how the decision was made.

On 1 March 2023 in a closed, confidential session of the council meeting the mayor of Liverpool and five of the 10 councillors voted to dump using the NSW Electoral Commission and engage a private company to run the council elections without any prior community consultation. Mr Hagarty’s petition, despite making it to the NSW parliament on time, was not successful. But post-election, the poor performance of the private company in running the Liverpool election has prompted the NSW Premier to take a serious look at the issue of private concerns running government elections.

“One of the persistent arguments for privatisation is that apparently the private sector can provide a better level of service,” said Mr Little. “This is an insulting fallacy, and on local government election day 2024, what the people of Liverpool got was not good service from the private operator.”

Voters reported turning up at venues to cast their vote only to be met by confusion, and told they were at the wrong polling station. And people who did find their allocated polling venue had to wait up to three hours to vote – throwing their weekend plans into disarray.

Along with the long wait times, and confusing information regarding the location of polling venues, it has been reported that some constituents were provided with methods of completing ballots for the election which were contrary to the Local Government Act. The breach is in relation to voters obtaining ballots prior to the election informally rather than through the post – as is specified in the Act.

NSW Premier Chris Minns told the media he was inclined to introduce an amendment to outlaw private election providers in NSW after being briefed on the Liverpool council fiasco. NSW Greens MP Kobi Shetty said her party would support the Government if an amendment to outlaw private election providers were brought to parliament. However, she urged greater funding of the state’s electoral agency is also required.

“The NSW Electoral Commission is a highly specialised NSW government department that provides electoral services for a range of government, public and commercial organisations, including registered clubs, statutory boards, the NSW Aboriginal Land Council and State registered industrial organisations, each with their own legal and regulatory requirements,” said Mr Little. “The public servants who work at the Commission perform very particular work, and are dedicated to probity, and operating within the Acts and legislation which govern elections in NSW.

“Government elections – both state and local – need to be run and overseen by a NSW government agency. Not private enterprise. Electricity distribution is essential; voting is compulsory. These things, among many others, should be the responsibility of government. Not for-profit businesses. “