1 / 11

Peter Forsyth

Peter Forsyth. BTRE Colloquium 14-15 June 2006 Summary and Policy Challenges. Approach. Focus on Issues and policy challenges Not on industries/ sectors. Policy Challenges. Public private interface Industry restructuring Regulation-how light? International dimension-aviation

leena
Download Presentation

Peter Forsyth

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Peter Forsyth BTRE Colloquium 14-15 June 2006 Summary and Policy Challenges

  2. Approach • Focus on Issues and policy challenges • Not on industries/ sectors

  3. Policy Challenges • Public private interface • Industry restructuring • Regulation-how light? • International dimension-aviation • Investment appraisal • Enduring roles for government

  4. Public Private Interfaces • PPPs are great- as long as the government is not involved • PPPs and other forms, e.g. privatisation of parts of systems • Create many problems-e.g. Cross City Tunnel (Harris) • Esp with private links in public networks (Ergas, Meyrick) • Actuality- many aspects very unsatisfactory (Ergas, Harris, Mees) • Have governments really tried to get them right? • Grappling with complex issues, e.g. allocation of unknown risks • Better design- how feasible? • How do they compare with the alternatives? • (Inefficiencies are often hidden in monolithic corporations) • Need for careful evaluation of Australian experience (BTRE?)

  5. Getting Industry Structures Right • Enthusiasm for separation (vertical, horizontal) waning (Ergas) • Firm structure very important for investment • Fewer problems of inadequate/excessive investment within integrated businesses (BTRE?)? • E. g. Airlines which own terminals build them to the standard they need • Problem areas with the interface between different operators e.g. rail/truck/port • How effective has separation been in promoting competition?

  6. Regulation-Getting the Right Balance • Just how much regulatory involvement? • Regulators may become deeply involved in industry structure issues (Samuel- Toll) and investment • Sometimes it becomes very detailed- the price of achieving regulatory objectives as set • Handling issues of inadequate capacity (SR) (e.g. coal loaders)- quite good • Investment incentives- a key area of debate • Myopic regulators vs gaming firms • Regulatory compliance costs (Gibbins) • Use of regulation- appropriate to use access regulation as backdoor to airport regulation, when there is a monitoring system in place? • Airport monitoring- a critical experiment • PC inquiry results will be very significant with wider implications for transport industries

  7. International Constraints- Aviation • International aviation different because other countries have a say (Findlay, Miller) • Arrangements are not in Australia's interest (like agriculture-Truss) • What to do? Ownership rules to pull away the supports • A “Red Book” on benefits of European Aviation liberalisation? (BTRE?) • Australia still has a lot of policy discretion • What is in Australia’s interest (BTRE?) • Liberalisation without reciprocity? Bargaining chips? (Dixon) • Issues won’t go away- Singapore request yesterday • Direct flights to secondary destinations (Mel, Bne)? • National hub carriers not keen on direct services, others are • Liberalisation the only way of getting more direct services?

  8. Getting Investment Right • New definition-Investment appraisal: developing a set of numbers to rationalise a previous government decision to spend money • Several entities responsible – govts, regulators, private frirms • Private firms- (mainly pay for their own mistakes) • Regulators are fairly good and transparent • Major public projects a real problem- evaluation has got a lot worse • Dud projects being pushed by governments • Rarely any CBAs, but many “evaluations” which indicate gigantic “benefits” • Some glimmers of hope- AusLink evaluation guidelines (DOTRS, BTRE) • Tough treasuries? (Scrafton)

  9. Ongoing Government Role • International negotiations (air) • Urban congestion measures (Sayeg) • Setting regulatory frameworks • Designing contracts (PPPs) • Interstate issues (COAG) • Handling externalities • Promoting competition (but how much-Davis) • Referee of the intermodal game (Meyrick) • Granting and designing subsidies (Dale, Thomas, Bridge)

  10. Information and Analysis • Institutional reform extensive, though some areas remain (Scrafton) • Need to make the new arrangements work better • Information and analysis critical • Necessary, though sadly not sufficient condition for good decisions (Winston) • Implications: Plenty of work for the BTRE (and others) to do

  11. Thank You

More Related