STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator ALLMAN-PAYNE (Queensland) (13:46): Today I've written to the Gold Coast City Council to urge them against privatising the management of the city's public pools and to stop their plan to sell off this community asset to the highest bidder. The public swimming pool is a beloved and essential part of Queensland life. As a former competitive swimmer, I've spent countless hours training and competing in public pools all over the state.

It's where we teach our kids to be water safe. It's where we learn to swim and to compete against our friends. It's a thriving hub of community life where people build connections with each other.

Privatisation risks all of this for thousands of Gold Coast residents. Instead of delivering all revenue back to the council, a private company will get to skim off the top. I join the community in fighting against this plan.

Queenslanders disagree about a lot of things, but one thing we all agree on is that we hate government selling off our assets. The Bligh Labor government sold off ports, rail and other infrastructure, and Queenslanders booted them out of power. The Newman LNP government took an asset sale plan to the 2015 election and copped one of the biggest electoral defeats in Australian history.

Privatisation has failed. When we sell off public assets to private interests, we rob communities of their control over those services, outsourcing decision-making to unaccountable corporations whose sole goal is making money for other people. Costs go up, quality falls and accessibility declines.

Yet Australian governments are addicted to privatisation. They'd rather sell off the family silver than tax the billionaires and the big corporations making record profits out of this cost-of-living crisis. Enough of this.

It is time to take back what we own.