MATTERS OF URGENCY

Senator WATERS (Queensland—Leader of the Australian Greens) (16:46): At the request of Senator McKim, I move: That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency: The need for the government to finally acknowledge that Australians are paying the price of privatisation, that privatisation has delivered nothing but pain for Australians through privatised profits, higher costs, and worse services, and that essential public services must return to public ownership.

It feels like you can't leave the house these days without it costing you money. Why is life so expensive? One reason is that everything is being run by big corporations to prop up even bigger corporate profits.

In years gone by, services were run for people. But over the last few decades, Labor and the Liberals have sold them off, meaning that we pay more and in most cases get less. Toll roads, airport parking, health insurance and medicine—they sold them.

Electricity, airlines and ports were sold. Power stations and banks were sold too. Child care, employment services and railways—they sold them as well.

All the things we need that used to be owned and run by the government have been sold to private corporations. This huge sell off, this privatisation of our essential services, has been a very deliberate plan of both Labor and Liberal governments. When public services are run for the benefit of people, they're cheaper, better quality and create better-paying jobs.

Instead, both these lots sold them. Now we all pay more, and we get lower quality services so that big corporations can make billions of dollars in profits. It's no wonder that people are fed up with politics.

These services should be run for you and not run for corporate profits. Some of the biggest companies on the Australian stock market are the ones that used to be owned by us—companies like Qantas, the Commonwealth Bank and Telstra. They're in private hands now, completely unaccountable.

Labor and the Liberals have been selling off everything that isn't nailed down, and every time we've all ended up paying more for less. That's what we mean when we say the major parties are selling you out for corporate profit. It's not a slogan; it's who they're working for.

Whether it's your gas and electricity, child care and aged care, your phone, your internet, the airport or the freeway—every time you use them, big corporations are making massive profits, and it's made life more expensive for all of us. Add to that the fact that one in three big corporations pays no tax, and that this government—and the last—are not fixing that, and it's a pretty clear picture that we're all being ripped off.

Public services should stay in public hands, run for people and not run for private profit. It's time that essential public services were returned to public ownership. If you don't want to feel like leaving the house means forking out money for nothing, then stop voting for the parties that are selling you out and start backing the people that are here fighting for you—and that's the Greens.