Starving Public Services: How Major Parties Profit from the Crisis They Create

Introduction: “Starve the Beast” or Starve the People?

They call it “starve the beast.” The strategy: drastically shrink government budgets until public services start failing. Politicians then step in and claim government incompetence, offering privatization as the solution. But who benefits? Private corporations — often major party donors — who secure profitable deals to run prisons, roads, or welfare systems. Who loses? The rest of us who rely on these essential services.

Both Labor and the Coalition have played this game, defunding TAFE, Centrelink, the CSIRO, public hospitals — and then proposing for-profit alternatives. It’s time to recognize this deliberate sabotage.

How Starving the Public Sector Works

• Defund: Cut budgets, lay off staff, and delay investments.
• Chaos & Complaints: People experience long waits and poor quality.
• Declare a Crisis: Politicians label the service as failing.
• Privatize: Sell services to private bidders promising “efficiency.”

Why do they do this? Donors gain profits, and major parties secure campaign funds and favorable media coverage — creating a cycle prioritizing corporate gains over public wellbeing.

Centrelink and the Robodebt Scandal

• Starving Centrelink: Staff and budgets slashed, creating massive delays.
• Robodebt Disaster: Automated system incorrectly generated debts, causing immense stress and financial hardship for thousands.

Major Parties’ Role:

• Labor initiated automated compliance measures.
• The Coalition expanded them aggressively, resulting in lawsuits and a $1.2 billion settlement — yet no political accountability.

TAFE Under Siege

• Once a Jewel: Provided affordable, quality vocational education.
• Cuts and Scams: Funding diverted to questionable private providers offering substandard courses.

Labor and Coalition Complicity:

• Both reduced funding while claiming support for vocational training, resulting in scandals and diminished education quality.

Healthcare and Aged Care: A Grim Trend

• Public Hospitals: Increasing shortages, staff burnout, and creeping privatization due to chronic underfunding.
• Aged Care Crisis: Royal Commission exposed severe neglect in for-profit facilities prioritizing profits over quality care.

Both major parties have only offered superficial solutions, unwilling to confront powerful for-profit aged care lobbyists.

The High Cost of “Efficiency”

• Hidden Tax: Privatized services increase costs to consumers, effectively becoming a hidden tax funding corporate profits.
• Loss of Accountability: Private corporations answer to shareholders, reducing transparency and responsiveness to the public.

Why Both Major Parties Embrace Privatization

• Donor Pressure: Privatization firms contribute heavily to both parties.
• Ideological Capture: Both believe in market superiority, despite contrary evidence.
• Deflection: Privatization allows politicians to shift blame when things fail.

Are You Still Voting for Them? Why???

Consider your experiences — waiting hours on Centrelink calls, encountering closed TAFE campuses, or witnessing poor aged care standards. These outcomes were engineered by major parties through deliberate defunding and privatization.

Dump them. Ditch them. Don’t rank them.

The Hope: Reinvest in Public Services

Independent and Minor Party Solutions:

• Guarantee essential funding for TAFE, health, and welfare.
• End unchecked outsourcing of critical public services.
• Strengthen oversight and accountability if privatization occurs.

Local Success Stories:

• Some councils reclaimed privatized services, improving quality and reducing costs.
• Community pressure can halt destructive privatization practices.

Conclusion: Stop Rewarding Saboteurs

Starving public services is intentional — not accidental. Major parties have shifted billions from public resources to corporate interests. Each time you suffer from underfunded hospitals or closed TAFE campuses, remember who created these conditions.

If you’re still considering voting for Labor or Coalition — why??? Real alternatives exist: independents and minor parties who genuinely value public services and accountability. To end this cycle of sabotage, it’s time to:

Dump them. Ditch them. Don’t rank them. Public services belong to all of us — let’s protect them.