Privatisation of Lands Titles Office (SA)

The privatisation of services provided by the Lands Titles Office appears set to boost the SA Government's budget bottom line by estimates of up to $400 million.

The Public Service Association, the Law Society, the Institute of Surveyors, the Institute of Conveyancers and the Real Estate Institute have all been arguing against the privatisation, describing the Lands Titles Office as one of the most efficient government agencies.

Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis has defended the move as the simple outsourcing of the "processor" of the titles that would allow the successful bidder to commercialise private data held by the office.
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SA Lands Titles Office sale could raise $400m, but should we be worried?

This seems so wrong to me.

 

I'm all for privatisation of just about everything, as the government is horribly inefficient at running things.

Titles office seems like a bad target though.

And its really just to get some capital because they're short. If they'd manage money better they wouldnt be.

State budget comes out shortly, and its the last one prior to the election. Labour has been here for over a decade. Things will turn around shortly hopefully.

 

I don't know about SA but in WA the land titles office is one department that is run really well. Considering how high stakes the data is, I really think it should remain under the control of the government. Seems short sighted to sell it.

 

They've sold NSW for a few $$, so why not?

 

Sold or leased? Either way, the counter argument is:

...NSW got a dud deal because the LPI monopoly could generate $2.6 billion in profit in 20 years, which could help pay for schools and hospitals.

"There's a long-term loss to the state here ... because we won't have that annual revenue stream; it will be removed for a one-off injection paying for stadiums," he said.
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http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/nsw-land-...gement-first-state-super-20170412-gvjcfw.html