NSW Premier moves to stop Sydney Water being privatised

Sydney Water will be protected from being sold off to private interests if new legislation is passed by the NSW government.

Premier Chris Minns said his government wanted to safeguard public ownership of the state's most critical public water assets, which also includes Hunter Water.

The newly-elected Minns government will introduce legislation to parliament this week to amend the Constitution Act 1902 to protect Sydney Water and Hunter Water from privatisation.

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Both utilities are statutory state-owned corporations and can be protected by an amendment to the Constitution Act. If passed, only an act of parliament could green light the sale of essential water assets.

Minns said the Liberals had spent 12 years privatising the electricity network, ports and toll roads, to the detriment of NSW residents, he claimed.

"It's led to people having to pay higher prices to pay for services they use to own," he said.

"Under Labor there will be no more privatisation of essential assets."

In the lead up to the March election, won by Labor, Minns claimed then-premier Dominic Perrottet had been eyeing a possible sale of Sydney Water.

Perrottet argued major infrastructure projects in the state would never have been possible under a Labor government so opposed to strategic privatisation of assets.

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Water Minister Rose Jackson said Sydney Water and Hunter Water had served the community for over 130 years and that it was "basic common sense" to keep both entities in public ownership.

"They provide critical drinking water and crucial infrastructure and profit is directed back into the NSW Government," she said.

"This bill will ensure they continue to operate in the best interests of the people of NSW."

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