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Who Owns What? Some Implications of the Humphry Report on Government Business Enterprises
Author(s) -
Wettenhall Roger
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
australian journal of public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.524
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-8500
pISSN - 0313-6647
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8500.1998.tb01287.x
Subject(s) - commonwealth , government (linguistics) , business , private sector , public sector , public finance , public administration , management , economics , political science , economy , law , philosophy , linguistics
Governments in Australia have long wrestled with the problem of managing the performance of government business enterprises (GBEs). In December 1996 the Finance Minister commissioned Richard Humphry to provide an ‘internal review’ of Commonwealth GBEs. While Humphry acknowledged the reality of many GBEs remaining in public hands for ‘the foreseeable future’, his report encouraged GBEs to be run more closely along private sector lines. According to Wettenhall, the long‐term ramifications for Australia are significant, and the unique role, qualities and responsibilities of public ownership are in danger of being sidelined.