As the NSW election approaches, NSW Labor Leader Chris Minns has made a bold pledge to enshrine government ownership of Sydney Water and Hunter Water in the NSW Constitution. The move would prevent either state owned asset from being put up for sale without a motion passing through both houses in the NSW Parliament.
The pledge comes as part of Labor’s election promise to protect public assets from privatisation. NSW Labor has been a long-time advocate of government ownership of key public assets, such as Sydney Water and Hunter Water.
The party has argued that private ownership of these assets would result in higher charges and poorer services for customers.
At Labor’s Final Countdown Rally on Sunday at Western Sydney University, Mr Minns proclaimed an election promise to prevent a back door fire sale of essential assets.
“The people of New South Wales should be constitutionally guaranteed a safe, reliable, and clean supply of water by the Government of the State, according to Labor,” he said.
“The privatisation of our ports, toll roads, and energy infrastructure has been a contributing factor to the rising cost-of-living crisis that is affecting every family in NSW.”
On multiple occasions, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and Treasurer Matt Kean have declared there are no plans to privatise Sydney Water.
Nevertheless, Labor maintains that this is not true, citing confidential documents from Mr Minns which supposedly show the Coalition investigating privatisation options for a Sydney Water facility at Kemps Creek.