Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party MLC Robert Brown called on new Premier Gladys Berejiklian to scrap the Government’s bid to privatise NSW Land and Property Information (LPI) as she unwinds the unpopular policies of her predecessor.

“Buying a family home is the biggest financial decision most people will make throughout their lives, and privatising NSW Land and Property Information office will make that all the more expensive,” he said.

“Handing-over an essential Government service will provide a natural monopoly to whichever private operator buys the LPI registry at the expense of every single homeowner or prospective homeowner in New South Wales.

"Government should not be selling essential service monopolies to private operators.  Private corporations are chiefly concerned with profits, whereas Government exists to deliver essential services for everybody.

“Mark my words: prices for services will inevitably rise and while the budget may get a quick sugar-hit, people will be worse-off.  Essentially it’s palming-off a cost to Government onto taxpayers.”

Mr Brown fears a US-style situation where the integrity of the land titles registry is compromised by private ownership.

“In the United States, title insurance is commonplace to offset the risk of incorrect titles data or invalid mortgages because of private ownership of land title registries.  This is unheard of in New South Wales because of the integrity of our Government-owned registry and that must continue.

“Once the registry is sold, it’s gone forever. We’ll never get it back.”

Mr Brown added that the new Premier should take note of the failings of her predecessors.

“My message to Gladys Berejiklian is this: Premier, your predecessors weren’t always willing to take seriously the views of the Shooters Fishers and Farmers Party or rural constituents.  Don’t make the same mistake as them.”

Download Robert Brown's press release here.