Private Public Partnerships - Keep it in the Family

Public- private partnerships, a merge of private companies providing support to public projects, are an interesting arrangement where private companies form a consortium to design, build, maintain and provide support services to the new facilities for the Government.

PPPs are increasingly being used to construct schools, health care facilities, prisons and infrastructure because they reduce the risk to Government and provide economic opportunities to the private sector.

The benefits of PPPs are numerous. Firstly, the financial risks undertaken with huge projects are considerable therefore sharing the risks with the private sector is appealing. Additionally, by enabling governments to raise resources from the private sector, more services are made possible and available. And finally, it allows governments to expand on their projects without the risk of public borrowing.

However, in the case of health care, the majority of private companies are not health related businesses but rather, are in every other sector bar the health industry.

During the redevelopment of the Royal North Shore Hospital, the government was questioned by the public on exactly where the private funding money was going, with quite a significant amount of interest going into the non-health elements such as parking and food.

Perhaps the government should look into developing more partnerships between private Catholic healthcare and public hospitals. Because we’re dealing with a private hospital, the emphasis is on the healthcare aspect. Advantages such as elective surgery waiting lists and delays in emergency departments being slashed mean a more efficiently run centre as well as a wider net of healthcare being more readily available to the public sector.

Hawkesbury Hospital, which is run by Catholic Healthcare, is a private hospital with a public contract and has been held up as a model of how successful non-government hospitals (contracted to treat public patients) can be.

Catholic Health Australia (CHA) has advocated for healthcare partnerships between public and private hospitals for some time now. Unions between private and public hospitals would mean that, instead of building/purchasing for one hospital, that a variety of resources would be available to a wider list of patients not to mention the financial benefits of keeping all the economic matters within the healthcare system.
RESEARCHED AND EDITED BY: DANIELLA SERRET

SOURCES:

http://www.sydneycatholic.org/news/latest_news/2011/201147_1882.shtml

http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/59D93299276BE3A8CA25749800223B3B/$File/ocpahfsv4.pdf

http://ahha.asn.au/sites/default/files/imported/documents/publications/177/051024%20healthcare%20facilities%20planning%20and%20design%20conference%20FINAL.doc

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/UNSWLJ/2006/46.html

http://www.nscchealth.nsw.gov.au/rnsredevelopment/faqs/003835092.shtml

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-nsw/hospital-plans-badly-flawed/story-e6freuzi-1111114538921

http://www.pwc.com.au/industry/healthcare/assets/Redesigning-Healthcare-Aug07.pdf

It's a bird..it's a plane...No, it's a bullet train!

Have you ever been jealous of Europeans, with their ability to travel casually to Paris for lunch and be in England by dinner? Whilst it may not be as glamorous, Australia is contemplating its own version for those who dream of scouring St. Kilda’s hot spots before returning home to Glebe. The dream: a high speed rail link between Melbourne and Brisbane that would cut travelling time significantly.

The train, stopping via Sydney and Canberra, is said to be able to travel up to 350kms per hour which would mean the regular 3 hour journey between Newcastle and Sydney will be cut to merely 40 minutes with the commute between Sydney and Melbourne being only three hours.

The speed of travel holds high incentives for the employment industry as it promotes inter-state employment as well as opens up career opportunities for people based outside of the Sydney metro area. Additionally, it opens up opportunities for Sydney based workers to seek jobs in rural areas.

Beyond this, the construction of the link itself will boost up employment in the construction sector as the scale of the project will be vast.

Also in favour of the project is the Australasian Railway Association. Their study, The True Value of Rail, has highlighted the economic, greenhouse and safety advantages of the rail link.

The study shows that one passenger train also reduces road accident costs equivalent to 130 hospital visits and, in one year, reduces carbon emissions by the same amount as planting 320 hectares of trees.

Balmain state Greens MP Jamie Parker stated “The high-speed rail would reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport and congestion on already overloaded high-demand Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane routes. This would in turn dramatically reduce aircraft noise and pollution in the inner west”.

The Bureau of Transport Economics also pointed out that a Melbourne to Brisbane rail line opened up the door for rail transport which would replace truck transport, stating that the costs of truck transport were significantly higher than rail in the following categories:

• fuel costs
• road maintenance and repair costs
• accident costs
• enforcement costs
• congestion costs
• cost of regulations
• pollution costs
• noise costs
• cost of time for freight by road
• other line haul costs (driver and other vehicle operating costs).

So far, so good. But here’s the spanner in the works: the final analysis report puts the total expenditure costs around $100 billion dollars.

That’s right. $100 BILLION dollars. In promoting the rail link it was reported that it would come at no government cost but the Bureau of Transport Economics quickly shot that down. If the project goes ahead, it will have to involve some government organizations due to the need for minor upgrades within existing alignments.

Additionally, land will need to be purchased to build the link on. However, only governments have the powers of compulsory acquisition so government involvement is necessary. Not to mention that the funds for this project will most likely be coming out of the taxpayer’s money.

Call me selfish but considering the 25 years it will take to develop this project (not including the stamp of approval process that will undoubtedly drag on), the payoff will come when I’m well into my 60s at which point you can bet I’ll be using those trains to party with all my retired friends in all 3 states.


RESEARCHED AND EDITED BY: DANIELLA SERRET

 
SOURCES:

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/sydney-to-melbourne-rail-trip-in-three-hours-20110803-1ibnk.html

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/vision-of-australias-future-400kmh-trains-20110607-1fqnd.html

http://inner-west-courier.whereilive.com.au/news/story/high-speed-rail-link-a-green-alternative/

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-04/high-speed-rail-feasibility-study/2823760

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/highspeed-eastern-rail-link-to-cost-100-billion-20110801-1i87y.html

http://www.bitre.gov.au/publications/2000/files/wp_045.pdf

The Neverending Story of the Housing Shortage

The numbers say it all:
• Australia has a shortage of 215,000 dwellings.
• Since 2005, the rate of population growth exceeds the rate of additions to housing stock.
• The National Housing Supply Council says the gap between supply and underlying demand in Australia widened by 28,200 homes in the 2010 financial year.
• State of Supply Report predicts the number to grow to more than 600,000 by 2030.

In lamens terms, there are not enough houses for the amount of people in Australia. Increased housing prices and a rise in rent for renters are some of the side-effects of the housing shortage. In particular, affordable housing and rental units for the lower income demographic have suffered the most shortages.

This is surprising given the fact that the Government has invested $450 million in a housing affordability fund and provides more than $1.2 billion a year as part of the National Affordable Housing Agreement.

However, opposition housing spokeswoman Marise Payne said the Gillard government had postponed funding for 30 per cent of the National Rental Affordability Scheme, stating “Labour should explain why they shelved funding for 15,000 homes out of 50,000 under NRAS until 2015-16.”

In addition to this, Mr McClelland, the new Minister for Housing and Homelessness, stated "There is still a lot to be done to address the inescapable fact that growth in underlying demand for housing is outstripping supply.”

The UK seems to have a solution that Australia is slowly adopting. By borrowing against its properties, Britain's community housing sector raised funds in excess of $59 billion for the delivery of social housing, affordable housing and urban renewal, all without any financial default.

Housing shortage is a problem that, as time goes by, increases drastically. Property Council of Australia chief executive Peter Verwer stated that, at this point, “every day we fall behind another 110 homes across the country.” And the problem goes beyond simply having a roof over our families’ heads. A lack of access to healthy, affordable housing could create emotional and mental issues, increase stress levels and start a cycle of problems that could span generations, as well as impact productivity in the workplace, community and economy.

RESEARCHED AND EDITED BY DANIELLA SERRET

SOURCES:
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/notforprofit-housing-will-mean-big-returns-for-the-most-disadvantaged-20120202-1qvij.html

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/housing-shortage-blowout-to-hurt-economy/story-fn59niix-1226228023321

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-21/housing-shortage-set-to-keep-growing/3742438

Hello blogosphere, I'm Katie and I'm a Senior Consultant at Conduit Recruitment, specializing in Project and Design Managers and Professional Consultancy. This blog will be about my experiences, thoughts and opinions of the industry. Enjoy! Katie K