Land and Property Information – web (PDF version)

Media Release
The Baird Government has announced another asset sell off, this time the critically important Land and Property Information (LPI) Service and priceless property data said the Public Service Association (PSA).
LPI provides essential land titling, registration, mapping and valuation services for Government, emergency services and the community.
The sale announcement comes before the release of the results of a scoping study into the organisation’s future.
Despite the Government spin, the consumer will once again be the loser in the sell off.
“A private operator will be driven by profit – why else would they buy an enterprise? – which means higher fees for services which will of course be passed down to the consumer in the form, for example, of increased Council rates,” said PSA General Secretary, Anne Gardiner.
“The security of land titles should remain in the hands of the Government not the private sector.”
“Currently, the Government provides insurance and security of property titles. But if LPI is sold to a private operator, individual owners may have to take out insurance to guard against unscrupulous property developers acquiring their land.”
“Apart from the impact on jobs and job security, there is also the critical issue of personal data security once the unit is no longer owned, operated and properly regulated by the Government.”
“Are we to see personal household land title and property valuation information going to call centres off shore?”
“I wonder which focus groups suggested to the Government that new, sparsely populated stadiums are the top of the list of community needs at a time when the vital public services that millions of people across the state depend upon each day are being sold to the higher bidder or starved of necessary funding?”
“The PSA is yet to see or even hear of a proper business case, cost benefit analysis or post sell off evaluation that states the clear advantages to the consumer of Government services being run by private operators,” said Anne Gardiner.