Re: Freightcorp's interstate sell-off blamed on competition fears

[dbromage@fang.omni.com.au (David Bromage)]

Greg Rudd (grudd@mail.usyd.edu.au) wrote:
> David Bromage wrote:
> > The proposed privatisation of Freightcorp has been blamed for the sale of
> > 20 locomotives interstate rather than to a local company. Silverton Rail,
> > based at Parkes, had sought to purchase the Freightcorp-owned locos.
> >
> > http://www.abc.net.au/news/regionals/orange/monthly/regor-24jan2001-5.htm
> >
> > (I presume this means the 442s, but only 16 were sold.)

> My question is why was the locomotives sold privately instead of at public
> auction, or tender where the highest possible price chould have been gained.

For the single reason that Silverton would have bought them and operated
them in competition with FreightCorp!

> Is this a breach of Freightcorp's own disposal procedures?

FreightCorp is corporatised and is told to behave like a business. As
such, my understanding that public tenders are no longer mandatory. Even
then, FreightCorp is like Microsoft - it doesn't adhere to any standards,
even its own.

Cheers
David