This is a problematic argument. Governments are not there to make money. Their role is to protect the weak in society,correct the failures of the free market and do things that private companies will not or cannot.
Until recently,the Morrison government’s failure to develop a coherent energy policy scared away investors,but the foundations for a new investment boom in clean and cheaper renewable energy are now being put in place.
The NSW and federal governments on Wednesday announced they would allocate $7.8 billion to help build transmission lines to connect Snowy Hydro 2.0 and the state’s planned renewable energy zones to the grid.
Minns has not explained why he cannot just leave the task of building the wind turbines,solar panel arrays and storage batteries to the private sector.
If he wants to take on the job himself,there are major risks. He will have to invest billions of precious taxpayer dollars,which could be used to build other things. If he makes a bad bet and one of the projects fails to make money,taxpayers’ will be on the hook.
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Government-owned companies are susceptible to political pressure,which can lead to bad decisions,and the government faces a built-in conflict of interest when it is both the regulator of an industry and also owner of a profit-making business in the industry.
Minns should explain what has changed since Baird made these same arguments when he pushed for privatisation in 2015.
It may well be that Minns is just posturing for the Labor true believers,and he has no serious plans,or his plans are narrow in scope.
But he is bidding to become premier in three months. He must flesh out his energy and economic policies if he wants to convince voters he is ready for it.