Although without precedent, yesterday’s decision to permit the take-over of the National Air group by its only remaining Australian competitor, Breathe Easy (Australia), is seen by many as the only way forward, finally putting an end to the cost-cutting war and subsequent infrastructure degradation that, in recent months, has left around 20% of Australian homes effectively disconnected from domestic clean-air supply, with widespread public health consequences.

The judgement comes as no surprise to many observers, who could see the writing on the wall following the fateful COAG meeting of October 2035, at which Federal and State Governments agreed to the incremental sell-off of all publicly-owned clean-air utilities, thereby giving the green light to privatisation of national clean-air supply, which burgeoned following collapse of the Global Climate Change Agreement in 2020.

 The current scenario is hauntingly reminiscent of the situation following the 2011 privatisation of Australia’s water resources, which precipitated the irreversible collapse of the food-bowl that once was the Murray-Darling Basin and led to frequent and protracted loss of mains water supply to households in many regions. 

The subsequent Moses Commission of Enquiry into the management of the Murray-Darling Basin, now generally acknowledged to have been empanelled several years too late, determined that the debacle, widely referred to as “Rudgate”, was a direct result of what the Commission somewhat kindly termed “preferential treatment” of corporate consumers, especially bottled-water and export-driven, water-hungry enterprises; many since found to have been subsidiaries of the very international consortia that, to this present day, effectively dictate the availability and price of Australian water.

As recently stated by our current Prime Minister, the fact that the political colour of the nation’s landscape underwent total metamorphosis at subsequent elections, both Federal and State, is a “poignant reminder of the latent but absolute power of the electorate to both fashion and fragment political careers” and that “governments are well-advised to seek electoral mandate prior to embarking on radical policy shifts”.

A spokesman for parent company, Breathe Easy (International), confirmed that, now that the impasse had been resolved, the majority of its Australian customers could look forward to more reliable clean-air supply, but would not comment on the likely trend in prices, other than to say that Breathe Easy believed that consumers were more concerned about quality of service.

Ian Douglas

11th February 2009