Clayton Barr MP yesterday met with locals outside the motor registry office in Nambucca Heads which the government has announced will transition to a Service NSW centre.

Mr Barr spoke about concerns that a tender process for the Service NSW Contact Centre which he tried to block going through parliament in June could signal a step towards eventually putting citizens’ private details in the hands of private companies.

“This is back-door privatisation. This is exactly what happened with the NDIS,” Mr Barr said.

“My biggest concern is people’s details being put in the hands of an international operator who is beyond public scrutiny and accountability”.

The Contact Centre handles phone calls and queries and has been partly outsourced to private companies since its inception in 2013, according to Victor Dominello, the Minister for Finance, Services and Property.

But the Minister says there are no plans to privatise Service NSW.

“The recent regulation was required as part of a tender process to create a panel of providers to get maximum value for money,” Mr Dominello said.

“Service NSW will not transfer the personal details of people in NSW to the private sector.”

The list of approved companies for the tender process include Concentrix, a subsidiary of Fortune 500 IT company SYNNEX; New Zealand IT company Datacom; Telco; and UK-based international Serco which is contracted to run many of Australia’s detention centres, including on Christmas Island.

Privatisation has become a polarising word in Australia especially in light of recent debacles in the vocational education industry. 

Related Content:

Chairman of the ACCC Rod Sims said a myth persists of ‘private being better’ which isn’t always correct and that great care must be taken when dealing with human services which do not operate on models of profit.

Labor Councillor Susan Jenvy said one of her concerns is smaller centres like the Nambucca Heads Motor Registry would fail a cost-benefit analysis and be closed down if Service NSW was privatised.

“We fought to keep this centre open nearly ten years ago, and it’s important for the shire to have it otherwise people would have to travel to Coffs Harbour,” Councillor Jenvey said.

Mr Barr will continue to visit offices around the Oxley electorate and call on local member Mel Pavey to declare there will be no moves to privatise the service.

Watch: Clayton Barr’s call for Mel Pavey to rule out privatisation of Service NSW.

A media spokesperson for Mrs Pavey said that she was not able to comment on the matter as it falls outside the purview of her portfolio.