National Electronic Conveyancing Office

Pelikan Shanghai M620, originally uploaded by Wil Lau.

Newsletter No. 9 (6 October 2005)

Start-up of the National Office


With broad agreement among the Land Registries in all States and Territories on what needs to be done, the first steps have been taken to put national governance arrangements in place, with the aim to define and implement a National Electronic Conveyancing System (NECS).


A National Office has been established and an Executive Director appointed to get things underway. The Executive Director is Simon Libbis, who until recently was Registrar-General in South Australia. Simon is a legal practitioner with considerable experience in conveyancing and real property law. He will have a small number of contract staff assisting him as his work increases. Under initial arrangements, the National Office is operating in Melbourne at Level 40, 140 William Street and can be contacted through its website at www.necs.gov.au, or by telephone on (03) 9607-8470.


To oversee the start-up of the National Office, an interim National Steering Committee has been formed by the Deputy Director General of the NSW Department of Lands and the Deputy Secretary of the Victorian Department of Sustainability & Environment. The interim Steering Committee has given the National Office a starting work program consisting of eight tasks:


Task 1: Establish Interim Governance Arrangements

This involves completing the National Steering Committee membership, fully resourcing the National Office and setting up the National Consultation Forums.


Task 2: Confirm Business Model

This involves presenting the National Business Model to the Consultation Forums, incorporating any enhancements or changes brought forward and getting their endorsement to take it forward to the Steering Committee with a recommendation to implement.


Task 3: Obtain Independent Risk Assessment

This involves engaging an experienced financial and operational systems risk assessor to identify, document and assess all of the risks inherent in the National Business Model and to recommend how risk should be shared among the stakeholders and managed. The outcome of the work will be reviewed with the Consultation Forums and considered by the Steering Committee, with adjustments made if necessary to the business model.


Task 4: Obtain Independent Regulatory Review

In parallel with the risk assessment, independent advice will be obtained on the National Business Model’s compliance with all relevant regulatory requirements. This will ensure compliance with National Competition Policy as well as trade practices and financial services regulation generally. The advice and any implications will be reviewed with the Consultation Forums.


Task 5: Obtain Independent Governance Advice

This involves getting expert advice on the most appropriate ownership, governance and control arrangements for the NECS once it becomes operational. The advice will be reviewed with the Consultation Forums and recommendations for implementation put to the Steering Committee.


Task 6: Obtain a Preliminary Evaluation of the Victorian System

This is intended to get an early indication of how much of the NECS can be provisioned from the system developed in Victoria and shortly to be pilot tested there. The outcome may enable implementation of the NECS to be fast-tracked.


Task 7: Develop a Funding Model

This involves modelling expected costs and fee revenue for the NECS so as to be confident of its commercial viability.


Task 8: Prepare Detailed Implementation Plans

This involves preparing detailed plans for everything necessary to provision, test and commission the NECS and to progressively set it to work in each jurisdiction, including converting users from paper to electronic conveyancing.