Secret plan to sell off major Australian water plant to China

A key Sydney water plant is being run by a company owned by the Chinese government, leaked documents have revealed. 

The Upper South Creek Advanced Water Recycling Centre at Kemps Creek, western Sydney, is being managed by a company called Trility, which is owned by the Chinese Communist Party’s Beijing Enterprises Water Group.

The plant, which serves more than a million people in Sydney, will be run by Trility for five years, with the option of a further five after that. 

According to the plan, its management was contracted out shortly after the NSW government commissioned firms Clayton Utz and KPMG to look into the privatisation of the water plant. 

The documents also claim that the NSW government is exploring alternative funding models for the water plant, including private sector investors.

Trility is owned by the Chinese Communist Party’s Beijing Enterprises Water Group

It is also believed decision at the plant are likely to shape long-term structure of water services in Australia.

Chris O’Keefe, who revealed the confidential documents on his 2GB show, described the management of the water plant as ‘concerning’. 

‘We are not not about an apartment block or a commercial property, we are talking about our water,’ he said. 

‘If we had to push back on the Chinese government buying our poles and wires, and we banned Huawei from being involved in our telecommunications network, then how the hell did it come to pass that a company with links as significant as Beijing water enterprises group with the Chinese Communist Party? 

‘How has it come to pass that they’re allowed to run critical water plants in the Sydney basin? 

‘This is on a day when we’re spending $300 billion plus to combat Chinese government influence in our region. And then right under our noses the Perrottet government has sold the operation of parts of our water network to a company owned by the Chinese Communist Party.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet insisted in February that his party had no plans on privatising water 

‘They’ve got to be joking.’

The leaked documents come despite NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet insisting in February that his party had no plans on privatising water. 

‘We have no plans in relation to Sydney Water. I’ve made that very clear every step of the way.

‘Labor resorts back to form, that’s exactly what they do at every election – run scare campaigns and try scare communities across NSW,’ he said.