Secret plan to sell major Australian waterworks to China

A key waterworks in Sydney is operated by a company owned by the Chinese government, leaked documents have revealed.

The Upper South Creek Advanced Water Recycling Center in Kemps Creek in western Sydney is managed by a company called Triility, owned by the Chinese Communist Party’s Beijing Enterprises Water Group.

The facility, which serves more than a million people in Sydney, will be operated by Triility for five years, with an option for a further five years thereafter.

According to the plan, management was outsourced shortly after the NSW government hired companies Clayton Utz and KPMG investigate the privatization of the waterworks.

The documents also allege that the NSW Government is exploring alternative financing models for the waterworks, including private sector investors.

It is also believed that decisions at the plant are likely to shape the long-term structure of Australia’s water supply.

Chris O’Keefe, who revealed the confidential documents on his 2GB show, described management of the water facility as “worrying”.

“We’re not talking about a block of flats or a commercial property, we’re talking about our water,” he said.

“If we had to push back on the Chinese government’s purchase of our towers and cables and ban Huawei from participating in our telecom network, how the hell did a company with such significant connections as the Beijing Water Company come to be a group? with the Chinese Communist Party?

“How did they come to be allowed to operate critical waterworks in the Sydney Basin?

“This is on a day when we are spending more than $300 billion to combat Chinese government influence in our region. And then, right under our noses, the Perrottet government sold the operation of parts of our water network to a company owned by the Chinese Communist Party.

“You must be joking.”

The leaked documents come despite NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet insisting in February his party had no plans to privatize water.

“We have no plans regarding Sydney Water. I’ve made that very clear at every step.

“Labour is getting back to form, which is exactly what they do in every election – running panic campaigns and trying to scare communities across NSW,” he said.

Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk