The Sydney-based titling and registry business of Land and Property Information (LPI) is set to be privatised, but Member for Bathurst Paul Toole has given an assurance no jobs will be lost from Bathurst.
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State Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian announced late Friday that the NSW Government will proceed with what is being described as “a 35-year long-term concession” after accepting the recommendations of a comprehensive scoping study.
Mr Toole said the spatial and mapping unit, located in Bathurst, will be retained within the Department of Finance, Services and Innovation and will be unaffected by the transaction.
“LPI’s valuation services will also be unaffected,” Mr Toole said.
“It will be business as usual here in Bathurst, which is good news.”
Ms Berejiklian said the proceeds from the transaction will be invested in new infrastructure across the state, including the sporting stadia package in Sydney.
“Investment from the private sector in LPI’s titling and registry operations will provide better outcomes for the state,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“The private sector will also be better placed to invest in new technology, which will have major benefits for consumers.”
Anyone can currently conduct a land title search, for a fee, to access information stored on the public register.
This includes information relating to any encumbrances on a property, lot and deposited plan and ownership details.
Ms Berejiklian said the integrity of the titling system will be protected by a strong regulatory framework.
She said this will include government oversight of any private operator and the continuation of the state’s guarantee of the Torrens titling system backed by the Torrens Assurance Fund.
“A newly created regulator will monitor and enforce the operator’s performance in respect of defined service levels, KPIs and the security of the data,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“In order to ensure transparency, the price of monopoly services will only be permitted to increase by CPI [consumer price index] over the term of the concession.
“This provides a more stable and predictable pricing framework for customers.
“And importantly the government will retain ownership of all the data and will require that the data be housed in Australia.”
Law Society of NSW president Gary Ulman said there are some state-owned assets that should remain in public hands.
“The justification for the privatisation of public assets usually lies in the need for a large-scale injection of capital into an industry, or to address underperformance by a government utility – neither rationale applies in this case,” he said.
He said the LPI provides one of the best land titles systems in the world, and currently returns a healthy dividend to the state.