Lands Titles Office

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:10): A supplementary question: what sort of 'utilisation of data' acquired under this contract is, and I quote again from the minister's press release of 7 July last year, 'extremely valuable to the property sector'?

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Treasurer, Minister for Finance, Minister for State Development, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy) (15:10): We sell data now. People can walk into the Lands Titles Office and purchase data relating to other people's properties as we speak. What we are seeking to do is to commercialise that data. We think that it is of value to the taxpayer. It is sitting there dormant and we should be using every weapon we have in our arsenal to maximise returns for taxpayers while, at the same time, protecting people's privacy.

We see people using data in many ways: to assist them in purchasing a property, or understanding valuations, or understanding demographic sheets. This data has value to a whole number of groups and organisations but, again, I would like to give the member a full briefing. The truth is this: the lands titles service is not an essential utility. It's not electricity and it's not water. These are simply processing facilities and, as far as we are concerned, I'm surprised that members opposite actually support the idea of a government monopoly continuing to run commercial operations.