Our Brisbane History

Pic: Grading butter at the railway cold stores, Roma Street, Brisbane, ca. 1917

State Enterprises

A Ryan Reform

The election of the Labor Government led by Mr T.J. Ryan in 1915 changed the face of politics in Queensland forever. For the first time socialist principles and philosophies were able to be translated into legislation. One of the most interesting examples of this war Ryan's creation of a wide range of State Enterprises.

On his election, Ryan proposed government ownership of coalmines, steelworks, granaries, sugar mills, abattoirs, produce agencies and markets. In later years, hotels, railway refreshment rooms, cattle stations, butcher shops, plant nurseries and a lottery were added to this list. Ryan's notion of State Enterprises differed from the classic notion of nationalization. Rather than the government talking over an entire industry, Ryan's idea was that the Government would become one of the participants in an industry as a way of keeping prices down and ensuring competition. In the early part of this century, governments around the world enacted anti-trust and monopolies legislation in an attempt to stop price of this type of thinking. Once area in which Ryan advocated an outright state monopoly was workers compensation insurance. He made this compulsory and developed a system which was paid for by industry and which provided automatic payments for injuries sustained at work.

Conservative forces in the Parliament saw Ryan's move as rampant socialism. Socialists in the Labor Party, however, saw it as State Capitalism. Ryan simply saw it as government becoming active in business to assist workers as both consumers and producers. The scale and profitability of the State Enterprises varied enormously. The State Insurance Office operated very effectively and was able to offer premiums to workers at one third lower costs than its competitors. It also generated revenue for the government.

State Butcher Shops, of which there were ninety, were not so viable. Although they effectively held the prices down, they traded at a loss. Most of the State Enterprises were closed by the Moore National Country Party Government when it was elected in 1929.