Chris Merritt, Legal affairs editor | July 11, 2008
AN employee of the company that helped build Victoria's troubled electronic conveyancing system is running the state government agency that is responsible for electronic conveyancing.
James Walker, who is still an employee of computer consultancy Ajilon, is one of a number of private consultants who are involved in running the Government's electronic conveyancing system.
The system, which has cost Victorian taxpayers $40 million to build, has been used for just one property settlement since its launch last year.
Hundreds of mortgages have been lodged and discharged using the system but it is not being used for conveyancing due to a boycott by the key players in the industry - solicitors and the major banks. Both groups have separate disputes with the Government about the structure of the system.
The central role of Ajilon in running the e-conveyancing system came to light soon after the Council of Australian Governments triggered renewed concern about the viability of the state-based system, known as ECV.
Those concerns arose after COAG promised last week that all states would be using a single national e-conveyancing system by March 2010. Mr Walker described himself on Tuesday in an email to interstate government officials as general manager of Land Exchange and project director of electronic conveyancing for the Department of Sustainability and Environment.
As well as Mr Walker, another official with a key role in the department, Rick Dixon, is also an Ajilon employee. Mr Dixon is the project manager of the department's electronic conveyancing project. Last December, Ajilon issued a press release that referred to the company's general manager Bill Leropoulos "and his staff Rick Dixon and Jim Walker". Mr Dixon has been involved with the Government's e-conveyancing project since 2005.
The key roles of the Ajilon employees within the Department of Sustainability and Environment triggered a call from the state Opposition for an inquiry by the Auditor-General.
"These consultants appear to be running rampant," said opposition frontbencher David Davis, spokesman on the scrutiny of government.
"Millions have been clocked up and it's now time to stop the music."
Mr Walker said he had been instructed not to answer questions and to refer inquiries about his role to the department's communications office. That office did not return telephone calls.
Mr Dixon said he preferred not to discuss his role.
Ajilon managing director Giles Nunis said the company did not want to get involved and all questions about the company's involvement in ECV should be directed to the department.
The state Government declined to answer a series of questions from The Australian about the role of Ajilon, including how much it had paid the company; how many other consultants were within the department; what systems it had in place to monitor potential conflicts of interest; and whether it had any plans to transfer their responsibilities to public servants.
Instead, a spokesman for Environment and Innovation Minister Gavin Jennings issued this statement: "The Victorian Government is fully committed to the COAG agreement and welcomes the agreement for a national electronic conveyancing system.
"We are looking forward to the assessment of the Victorian system as a possible basis for the establishment of one national system.
"The Victorian Government initiated the e-conveyancing project in 2002. It has now come to fruition and has successfully processed over 500 transactions and completed the world's first electronic settlement transaction.
"The system is technically robust and utilises state-of-the-art technology.
"Ajilon won a public tender to provide services and specialists to deliver an e-conveyancing system for Victoria.
"It is a highly specialised field and Ajilon's experts have worked as an integral part of the team to deliver the project.
"Mr Walker has led the project team for the past two years and there has been no change to his role in that time."
While Victoria is a party to the COAG agreement for a single system, Mr Walker issued an email on Tuesday that indicates Victoria wants an "alternate" model to be considered.
Mr Walker sent emails to interstate government officials inviting them to a meeting in Melbourne on July 22 to discuss a "jurisdictional" or "alternate" model for electronic conveyancing.
Before COAG endorsed a single national system last week, Victoria had been urging other states to adopt its proposed "jurisdictional" model of a network of systems modelled on ECV that would differ from state to state.
At a meeting in May, officials from all states except Queensland rejected Victoria's plan. That plan would have sidelined solicitors and bankers from direct involvement in developing the national system.
Had it gone ahead, responsibility for designing and building the e-conveyancing system would have shifted to a committee of state government officials.
Victorian representatives had produced a draft agreement containing a provision that said: "ECV Technical Solution will be the basis of the system recognising that jurisdictional differences are to be accommodated through customisation."
That provision, along with others, was rejected at the May meeting. Under COAG's plan, a single national system will be developed by private and public sector users of conveyancing.
On Tuesday, Mr Walker sent government officials in other states a document headed "The jurisdictional model and considerations".
It invites them to attend a meeting at the Victoria Ballroom of the Hilton Hotel at Melbourne Airport to discuss issues of "jurisdictional importance as a forerunner to the engagement of other stakeholders".
It says members of the COAG working party on e-conveyancing have been invited to the meeting. It would consider the implications of COAG's decision as well as unresolved issues about the national business model for electronic conveyancing.
"This will include questions arising from the jurisdictional ('alternative') model, with nothing held sacrosanct," it says.
The "rationale for the jurisdictional model" would be "explained and discussed", the document says. Mr Jennings declined to say whether the Government had been aware that Mr Walker had convened the meeting to discuss the jurisdictional model.
Law Institute of Victoria chief executive Michael Brett Young said the state Government needed to accept that while ECV might have "some excellent parts" there was no guarantee that ECV would be used as part of the national system.
"If it is not taken up completely or partly in the national system, they have got to accept that. It is a consequence of moving forward," he said.
Mr Brett Young said COAG's endorsement of a single national e-conveyancing system would produce major gains for business and that needed to be supported by the state Government.
The Opposition's Mr Davis said he was particularly concerned that consultants appeared to be "calling the shots" on the state's approach to e-conveyancing rather than the Government and minister who were responsible for the project. "After six years and tens of millions of dollars somebody needs to call a stop to the madness," Mr Davis said.
"Only a single settlement has been achieved and the system is not supported Australia-wide.
"The minister must finally exercise some authority and take control of this debacle."
In a letter to Auditor-General Des Pearson, Mr Davis says COAG's decision meant Victoria's electronic conveyancing software "may or may not be used in the development of a national electronic conveyancing system, presenting the possibility of huge losses for Victoria".
"An additional aspect for examination is the issue of what compensation Victoria will receive for the costs sunk into the ECV model which now appears set to be abandoned," he wrote.
"Also worthy of investigation is the role of consultants in the projects and whether the close supervisory role they appear to have had was appropriate."
Copyright 2008 News Limited. All times AEST (GMT +10).
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