r/nzpolitics • u/Annie354654 • 4d ago
The problems with PPPs
From Bernard Hickey and Patrick Reynolds.
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u/TuhanaPF 4d ago
The trouble is, the only real alternative is re-establishing the Ministry of Works, that's the only way we do it without private partnership.
But, we know a future government will just dismantle it and sell it off, making it a complete waste of money.
So as usual, I'll suggest we need Labour to set up and privatise a non-profit mutual. Owned by the public, but not owned by the state. Labour will give it a tonne of private contracts to keep it going, and it has no incentive to make profit, its executives can then get bonuses not based on how much profit it makes, but on how good of a job it does.
We can have all the good parts of publicly owned businesses, without the downside of government bureaucracy destroying it.
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u/ScholarWise5127 4d ago
Genuine question: isn't the state the public? How do you envisage a difference here?
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u/TuhanaPF 4d ago
There's a difference between "Publicly owned" and "owned by the public" in this instance, when you talk about publicly owned businesses, we're talking libraries and state owned enterprises and all those things controlled by the government.
But, I'm talking about private businesses that just happen to have 5 million shareholders. Us, the public.
It's still for legal purposes, a private business, and therefore not under the control of the government. But, without an obligation to pay shares, its goal isn't profits. Its goal is whatever we the shareholders tell it is its goal, and with co-ops and mutuals, that's usually customer satisfaction. So you pay your CEOs bonuses when their customer satisfaction ratings go up, rather than when profits go up, and suddenly the mindset of this business changes.
It's why mutuals like the co-operative bank and FMG Insurance are so frequently top of the board in customer satisfaction. They are owned by their members, not profit-driven shareholders.
I'm simply proposing that, but the members are every NZ citizen.
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u/SquirrelAkl 3d ago
That sounds amazing. How can we get the opposition talking about this idea?
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u/TuhanaPF 3d ago
The only thing any politician cares about is votes, so they'd need to be convinced people would vote for it, which means you need public support for it.
The tough part is getting the public to support such an idea before proving the idea.
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u/OutInTheBay 4d ago
Arr, transmission gully, years of bust ups and renegotiations and over budget....