Public Relations in Australia
What are the single most significant issues facing the Australian system of government at local, state
and national levels in the short and longer terms? Pick one short term and one long term issue at one
level of government and outline the reasons you have chosen those issues.
Short-term issue: tackling use/addiction of methamphetamine (ice).
Long-term issue: privatisation of state assets.
PUBLIC RELATIONS IN AUSTRALIA 2
Public Relations in Australia
Introduction
On the platform of public relations in the Australia, government of this country is
faced with short and long-term disturbing issues, which comprise of ice (methamphetamine)
addiction and privatization of public assets respectively. Therefore, the following discussion
will engage in discussing some of the controversial issues revolving about ice use and public-
asset privatization in Australia.
Discussion
Ice addiction is an epidemic that needs to be wiped out as it has physical,
psychological, and emotional effects that are detrimental to health population of Australia
(Babor, 2010). The collaboration between the NSW police and NSW government can help
eradicate addiction. However, NSW police is more responsible than the federal government
on ice addiction, as they are within the grassroots where use of this drug is executed.
However, due to corruption, the police let the criminals to go on with selling of these drugs
(In Baker, In Robards & In Buttigieg, 2015). The effective strategy to fight against those
increasing rates is by the NSW government being responsible for the use of ice by drafting
policies that it oversees their implementation to the latter.
Privatization of public assets such as electric wires and poles poses a risk to NSW
government in future. Although privatization will have an immediate boost of economy,
creation of jobs and more tax pool, this does not outweigh the pain of losing the assets
(Chinyere & Xu, 2012). Instead, Gaffey (2010), due to reduced dividends, the government
PUBLIC RELATIONS IN AUSTRALIA 3
will be forced in future to tax its citizens more heavily as they will have no stable investment
sources. The previous acts of privatization of Qantas and power stations have not been
beneficial for both the government and organizations (Warner, 2010). This is because
privatization has led to the privatized companies trying to make use of the existing plants
rather than invest in new ones. The people in NSW will lose trust to the government, as they
will view that the government is mainly concerned about their current concerns, but not
future demands of which are more critical than current ones.
Conclusion
In summary, the government can address the issues of ice addiction and privatization
of public assets. The government, taking into consideration the effects of its action can either
increase the use of ice or its decrease. On the other hand, the NSW should avoid privatization
of its assets due to future adverse effects such as lack of investment structures.
PUBLIC RELATIONS IN AUSTRALIA 4
References
Babor, T. (2010). Drug policy and the public good. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Chinyere, I. and Xu, X. (2012). Public-Private Partnerships: The Underlining Principles of
Infrastructure Investment, Finance and Development Projects. International Journal
of Business and Management, (7): 109-125.
Gaffey, D. W. (2010). Outsourcing infrastructure: expanding the use of public-private
partnerships in the United States, Public Contract Law Journal, 39(2): 351-372.
In Baker, S., In Robards, B., & In Buttigieg, B. (2015). Youth cultures and subcultures:
Australian perspectives.
Warner, M. ((Dec 2010). The Future of Local Government: Twenty-First-Century
Challenges. Public Administration Review, suppl. Special Issue on the Future of
Public Administration in, 2020 70: S145-S147.
