ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the reason why Australia had such a large number of government business enterprises in the first place. It discusses the difficulties associated with the operation of these enterprises and finally the privatisation programme in Australia. Another long-standing aspect of Australian economic development was the prevalence of government owned business enterprises. Australian national and state governments in the past have operated a range of different business enterprises. These enterprises were mainly of such things as energy (gas and electricity), transport (railways, aviation, ports and public transport), finance (insurance and banks) and communications (post and telecommunications), but have also included betting agencies, printers, and defence manufacturers. The Australian Government began moves to privatise the government owned airlines and Commonwealth Bank late in the 1980s amid a great deal of controversy about whether this was a desirable act or not.
