The Partnerships Victoria PPP policy introduced in 2000 (and the PPP policies of other Australian governments that soon followed) drew a distinction between 'core services', such as the clinical services provided at hospitals, and 'non-core services' (otherwise known as 'ancillary' or 'soft' services) such as laundry, cleaning, and catering. The policy dictated that non-core services could be delivered by the private sector, but that responsibility for the delivery of the core services must remain with government.
However, conservative Australian governments have revisited this policy in more recent times and entered into PPPs that include private sector provision of core services. Examples include the Ravenhall Prison in Victoria, the Northern Beaches Hospital in Sydney, and the new prison in Grafton. It remains to be seen whether these new generation social infrastructure PPPs can deliver consistent long-term infrastructure service outcomes.
Perhaps we will see further outsourcing of what were once core public services, in the pursuit of better service and value for money outcomes. For example, why shouldn't school PPPs require the private sector to also provide teaching services? The Australian private school sector has a strong track record in delivering high-quality teaching services. Why don't state governments measure the quality of the teaching services delivered, rather than the quality of the building environment in which the services are delivered?