In practice and in principle: ‘Free market’ discourses and container port reform in Australia

In the 1980s, successive Australian governments began to pursue a program of microeconomic restructuring, taking their lead from the developing ‘free market’ reform projects underway in the United States and the United Kingdom. One of the prominent features of the emerging liberalisation agenda was the commercialisation and privatisation of government-owned companies and assets. In keeping with this trend, over the following decades, a series of changes have been introduced to Australia’s container ports aimed at improving their productivity and efficiency. Drawing on a series of interviews and analysis of governmental and non-governmental reports, the purpose of this study is to examine how port policy has unfolded ‘on the ground’ in Australia. The paper considers some of the ‘common sense’ economic maxims expounded for reform in relation to actual outcomes for industry stakeholders, concluding that principles and practice have diverged significantly and that many of the assumed benefits have failed to materialise.