Paul Henry interviews Anne Tolley on PPPs for schools in NZ
Posted by: Observer
on 22, Jul, 2010 
What the hell was that? Tolley (who clearly had only the most superficial grasp of what a PPP was) must have felt like she had been savaged by a flock of dead sheep because Henry’s interview was so pathetic.
If he hasn’t time to get to grips with the main problems with PPPs, he should at least have had someone on the programme (Bill Rosenberg, Ganesh Nana, - even Trevor Mallard) who does!
No Paul, it isn’t just unions who oppose them. If you look here you’ll see that the NZ Treasury concluded there was nothing in it for NZ – hardly a bunch of leftwing pinkies!
And google the cross-Sydney tunnel to see how the poor Sydneysiders were royally ripped off by a PPP. (or just check this out: Australian examples of dodgy PPPs include: Airport Link, the Cross City Tunnel, and the Sydney Harbour Tunnel, all in Sydney; the Southern Cross Station redevelopment in Melbourne; and the Robina hospital in Queensland.)
The reality is this:
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Governments can always borrow money at a cheaper rate than private firms so why bother;
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Governments love them because they shift a lot of liabilities off the balance sheet BUT they are just going on the credit card for future generations to pay off;
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When they go sour (and they do!) guess who picks up the tab. The UK taxpayer is still paying for PPP leases on schools that have closed;
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The Ministry of Education hasn’t built schools in NZ since 1989! They are all privately built here;
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It’s a waste of money to continue with the board of trustees structure if they are not dealing with property in the context of education.
Leaky buildings, sub-prime mortgages, dodgy financial companies – PPPs are the next big taxpayer rip off for sure. It's an important issue so it's a pity the public will be none the wiser after the feeble effort on Breakfast TV this morning.
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Observer
said:
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But wait there's more - what about this? From Public Private Partnerships in Health A Comparative Study University of Durham (June 2004) Within the past months NSW Health has commenced negotiations to ‘buy back’ Port Macquarie hospital into public ownership; the reasons (not publicly acknowledged) centre on: • Poor quality of service to the local population, characterised by; o Difficulties in accepting emergency admissions – lack of available beds o Claims of patient discrimination – an unwillingness to admit and treat elderly chronic ill patients o Rising waiting lists – in comparison with the trend for other public hospitals in the State • State ‘subsidy’ of the hospital. Costs are now above comparable public hospitals but are underwritten by the State to safeguard public services • The operator attempting to trade PPP contracts with other companies in efforts to ‘rationalise’ portfolios of hospital projects. |
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