There is a large amount of support for the view that private enterprises under a system of rules and laws will maximise efficiency in delivery of infrastructure and associated services for the community (BIE 1992 p42). However, the efficiency of the

Those opposed to privatisation stress the community service obligations attached to the public provision of goods. There is no incentive for a private telecommunications company to provide expensive cabling and other equipment for rural areas for the same price they charge in well populated cities. There is also a strong protest against the privatisation of monopolies. Perth's airport monopoly was privatised under provisions which prevent them from raising prices over their first years; however, they have not ruled out any prices increases after the initial teething process is over. This gives Westralia an undesired amount of leverage (from society's viewpoint) against customers when determining prices in the future.

The presence of important political and social functions makes the conventional assessment of public enterprise performance a difficult task. Performance indicators are necessary in order for businesses to produce gains in productive efficiency and improvements in responsiveness to the community's needs. Problem's in performance monitoring arise since Government Business Enterprises are not subject to take-overs or the risk of bankruptcy; consequently, they are exposed to less scrutiny by the equity and debt markets than their private-sector counterparts. The problem of performance monitoring is compounded by the lack of direction within public enterprises.

Proponents of privatisation suggest it gives existing private enterprises in that industry a fair opportunity to compete and develop by "levelling the playing field" and ending subsidised competition from state-owned enterprises. In some countries, state enterprises have access to credit and other inputs at below market rates as well as better access to government distribution channels (Domberger, 1992 p169). Qantas and The Commonwealth banks were good examples until their recent privatisation.

The revenue that the government receives from the sale of an asset is another motivation behind privatisation. Privatisation offers a one-off option to retire government debt, provide critical budgetary relief, or provide funding for specific projects. Telstra is a case in point where revenue from the partial privatisation has been 'tied' to environmental funding. In the late 1980's, the Hawke Government argued that funding for welfare, including education and health, would be in jeopardy without some recourse to privatisation (Wiltshire 1989 p32). The question of revenue draws attention to the issue of capital expenditure priorities.

GTEs including Telstra International and Elcom exemplify government 'capture' as well as the many other inefficiencies that could be remedied by privatisation. Recent advances in communications technology have significantly reduced the need for many of Telstra's engineers. Consequently, Telstra International has been enthusiastically ten

Some common words found in the essay are:
Service Obligations, Enterprise GBE, Hawke Government, Loy Yang, Queensland SERCARC1996, South Wales, Perth Airport, West Australian, Business Enterprises, Arts References, public enterprises, public sector, private enterprises, community service obligations, community service, productive efficiency, perth airport, south wales, argued privatisation, service obligations, minimise costs, supporters privatisation argue, capital expenditure priorities, yang power station, loy yang power,
Approximate Word count = 1925
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)