State Owned Corporations

The NSW Government owns a number of commercial businesses in energy, water, ports and forestry known as State Owned Corporations (SOCs). The Government established these businesses on behalf of the people of NSW as they provide services critical to the economy and infrastructure to the state.

There are eight SOCs in NSW. All SOCs are set up under the State Owned Corporations Act 1989, and must comply with the requirements set out in this Act. In addition, each SOC has separate enabling legislation, which is set out below.

Treasury’s role is to monitor the performance of these SOCs on behalf of the Treasurer and the Minister for Finance, who are their Shareholding Ministers.

Treasury is responsible for:

• negotiating the annual Statement of Corporate Intent and business plans for the SOCs, and monitoring performance against targets throughout the year
• assessing major investment proposals
• advising Portfolio and Shareholding Ministers of critical current and emerging issues that may impact on the businesses and
• administering the process for appointments to boards.

Shareholding Ministers are required to table the Annual Report and Statement of Corporate Intent for each of the SOCs in the NSW Parliament. These documents can be accessed on the Parliament of NSW website.