Sale of the Land Title office should be suspended

NSW Greens MP, Justin Field

NSW Greens MP, Justin Field, is calling for a halt of the sale of the Land and Property Information (LPI) unit until the security of the title system can be assured. The sale of the LPI appears to be so chaotic that recently over 200 families may have unknowingly purchased properties in the path of major road projects planned for Sydney.

Bruce Langley, a senior employee with  fifty years of service with the LPI told Fairfax today, the LPI has been in a "complete state of chaos" since it was split into five units and gutted of 70 employees in July, ahead of the Baird-Grant government's sell-off.

"The administration units were divided and responsibilities changed as the minister transferred personnel from government employee positions into a privatised model," said Mr Langley.

"The Baird-Grant government is putting at risk the homes of families across the state in order to rush through its latest privatisation of an essential public asset," said NSW Greens MP, Justin Field.

"The first the community knew about the sale of this world-class asset was when the legislation was rushed through the lower and upper houses within a 24 hour period in mid-September. The sale should be halted in order to ensure we don't have another 200 families sold properties in line for compulsory acquisition or facing huge road developments next door and so the sale itself can be scrutinised."
"The community is right to ask why the rush, what does the government know that we don't? Clearly the rush has led to errors and they need to be investigated before any sale process proceeds.

"The public's concerns are not eased by the companies lining up to buy this essential asset like defence and intelligence multinational the Carlyle Group. The government has questions to answer about the due diligence it will do to ensure the public are not put at greater risk by the sale."

"The security of home ownership rests in very large part on the fact that we can have the utmost confidence in the land title system.  That security just took a hit so the sale must stop until these questions are answered," concluded Mr. Field.

3 November 2016