The Queensland Government owns a number of commercial businesses in energy, water, rail and ports. The Queensland Government established these businesses on behalf of Queenslanders because they were services critical to the economy, they provided critical infrastructure to the state, and because the marketplace did not support the private establishment of these businesses. Over the years, the Queensland Government has corporatised these commercial businesses to enable them to operate efficiently.
Queensland Treasury monitors the performance of all these Queensland Government-Owned Corporations (GOCs) on behalf of the Treasurer, who is their shareholding minister. Treasury also monitors the performance of two statutory bodies which have commercial operations. The statutory bodies and GOCs are listed below.
Treasury is responsible for:
- negotiating the annual performance contract and five-yearly plans for the businesses and monitoring performance against targets throughout the year
- assessing major investment proposals to ensure they fit the government’s objectives for the community
- advising responsible and shareholding Ministers of critical current and emerging issues that may impact on government-owned businesses
- administering the process for appointments to boards of government-owned businesses.
All GOCs are bound by a regulatory framework that includes the Queensland Government Owned Corporations Act 1993, the federal Corporations Act 2001 and the Code of practice for government-owned corporations’ financial arrangements. The code outlines approval requirements and guidelines within which GOCs must operate in entering into financial arrangements. A number of other guidance documents also guide how GOCs conduct business.