Asset sales out, but outsourcing in Tim Nicholls and Peter Costello prepare to brief journalists in Brisbane. Major asset sales may be off the table, but outsourcing services is still very much in play as the government puts forward its plan to reduce the state's debt and regain its AAA credit rating. After Monday's party room meeting that went for just over seven hours, a flu-congested Campbell Newman said government MPs had come to the decision not to sell any major assets. The Peter Costello-led audit of the state finances had recommended assets sales, particularly in the energy sector, as one of the most "sensible" ways of cutting the state's debt, which is predicted to reach about $82 billion by the 2015-16 financial year. Now that Mr Newman has all but ruled out the sale of 'major' state assets, the government looks poised to recommend changes to service delivery. On the eve of tabling the full Commission of Audit report and the government's response to its recommendations, treasurer Tim Nicholls told Fairfax Media the government "needs to be able to do more with less." "The government's commitment has always been and remains to not sell any government business without seeking a mandate from the people first and no decisions have been made to change that particular policy," he said. I think Queenslanders can expect to see improvements in service delivery. They can expect to see a government for the 21st century, not a government that was stuck in the 19th century. If we don't follow the vast majority of these recommendations then times are going to be a lot tougher and the report made that clear in the executive summary that was released two months ago. The government has made some moves to clear the debt. It recently announced the sale of seven Brisbane CBD office towers in a $562 million deal with the Queensland Investment Corporation. The Australian Financial Review reported earlier this month the government had sold a $500 million stake in a South Australian electricity supplier as well as selling its stock in Aurizon (formerly QR National). Added together, the sales total more than $3 billion. In the executive summary which was publicly released on March 1, the commission recommended the state's debt be reduced by $25 billion-$30 billion as soon as possible. To do that, it recommended the government "review all current service delivery with a view to adopting higher productivity mechanisms, almost certainly with a greater reliance on private sector delivery." In plain English, that would mean outsourcing government services. The executive summary specifically named the education and health sectors as areas where "increasingly, there are private sector and not-for-profit bodies providing these services." The government has already announced a "blueprint" for Queensland Health, which would increase public-private partnerships. By taking this much wider view and drawing together all the disparate resources and interests that engage in health care in this state, the government can advocate and readily support joint strategies. Partners working together will save input costs, create mass where it is needed to more easily support new service delivery options and efficiencies of scale to reduce unit costs," the authors of the blueprint report wrote. An increase in public-private partnerships has also been flagged for the education department, which is also considering selling schools. However, all other government services, outside of policing, public safety, emergency and justice services, which were ruled out in the audit's executive summary, could be open to outsourcing. "The report runs to 1000 pages and makes 155 recommendations," Mr Nicholls said. Some of them are new ideas, some of them are different ideas. Exactly what shape those ideas take will not be certain until Mr Nicholls tables the full final report and the government's response in parliament, which is expected to occur sometime Tuesday morning.