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Queensland’s premier wants publicly owned petrol stations – is that a good idea? (theconversation.com)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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?

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 3 months ago (14 children)

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?

[–] Jumuta 0 points 3 months ago* (last edited 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

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