State-owned enterprises of Australia
In Australia the predominant term used for SOEs is government business enterprise (GBE). Various Australian states also have GBEs, especially with respect to the provision of water and sewerage, and many state-based GBEs were privatized in some states during the last decade of the twentieth century. Former Commonwealth SOEs include Telstra, established in the 1970s as Telecom Australia. Telstra, now Australia's leading telecommunications company, was privatized in 1997 by the government of John Howard. As of June 2010 Telstra owned a majority of the copper wire infrastructure in Australia (the rest is owned by Optus) and is pending sale to its former parent, the Australian government, for a non-binding amount of 11 billion Australian dollars, as ducts in the copper wire tunnels are needed to install the fiber optic cable. The Commonwealth Bank, as its name indicates, was also founded as public company before later being privatized.
In Victoria many GBEs were sold in the 1990s to reduce the state's level of debt. The State Electricity Commission of Victoria and the Gas and Fuel Corporation were the best-known government enterprises to be disaggregated and sold.
Australian Government
The GBEs of the Australian Government include those listed below, some of which are overseen by the Department of Communications:
- Airservices Australia
- ASC Pty Ltd
- Australian Broadcasting Corporation
- Australian Government Future Fund
- Australian Government Solicitor
- Australia Post
- Australian Rail Track Corporation
- Clean Energy Finance Corporation
- Defence Housing Australia
- NBN Co – fully owned and responsible for the rollout of the National Broadband Network
- Reserve Bank of Australia
- Screen Australia
- Snowy Hydro (13%)
- Special Broadcasting Service – fully owned, and combines government funding and commercial funding
Australian Capital Territory
The GBEs of the Australian Capital Territory include:
- ActewAGL (50%)
- ACTEW
- Capital Metro
New South Wales
The GBEs of New South Wales include:
- Essential Energy
- Forestry Corporation of New South Wales
- Hunter Water Corporation
- Landcom
- Newcastle Port Corporation, trading as the Port Authority of NSW
- Superannuation Administration Corporation
- Sydney Water Corporation
- WaterNSW
Queensland
The GBEs of Queensland include:
- CS Energy
- Energex
- Ergon Energy
- Powerlink Queensland
- Gladstone Ports Corporation
- Port of Townsville
- Port of Mackay
- Queensland Rail
- SunWater
- Stanwell Corporation
- Tarong Energy
South Australia
South Australia is notable for having very controversially privatized most of its GBEs:
Tasmania
Tasmania has a considerable amount of GBEs, relative to other states:
- Aurora Energy
- Forestry Tasmania
- Hydro Tasmania
- Irrigation Tasmania
- Metro Tasmania
- Motor Accidents Insurance Board
- Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority
- Public Trustee
- TasRail
- Tascorp
- TasNetworks
- TasPorts
- TasWater
- TT-Line
Victoria
The GBEs of Victoria include:
- Port of Melbourne
- Port of Hastings
- Snowy Hydro (29%)
- VicForests
- VicTrack
Western Australia
The GBEs of Western Australian include:
- Horizon Power
- Water Corporation
- Western Power
- Synergy
- Pilbara Ports Authority
- Fremantle Port Authority
- Mid-West Ports Authority
- Southern Ports Authority
- Kimberley Ports Authority
- Land Corporation