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Meeting 9: 18 April 2008
The National Steering Committee held its ninth meeting and its first meeting for 2008 in Sydney on 18 April.
Transfer of Victorian System - The Steering Committee received a report on the jurisdictions’ progress on setting up NECS Ltd to enable purchase of ECV from Victoria. The State and Territory jurisdiction members have held 2 meetings at which they discussed Victoria’s conditions that must be met before ECV will be transferred. A further meeting to elaborate on these conditions is scheduled for May.
COAG and SCAG Decisions - The Steering Committee noted that electronic conveyancing had been placed on the Council of Australian Governments’ agenda and referred to its Business Regulation and Competition Working Group. The Standing Committee of Attorneys-General endorsed this approach and offered to provide assistance with harmonisation of jurisdiction legislation requirements. The Steering Committee considered these decisions as positive developments towards a single national electronic conveyancing system.
National Project Team - The Steering Committee confirmed arrangements for the National Project Team (NPT), including its make-up, charter and work program. The Committee had previously unanimously endorsed the establishment of the Team as the preferred means of fully integrating industry and government requirements in the development of NECS. The NPT is a working group of the Steering Committee and makes recommendations to it on business requirements, supporting arrangements and implementation issues.
For more detail on the NPT, see click here.
Role of LSPs in Take-up - The Steering Committee received a presentation from the Information Brokers and Law Stationers Association (IBLSA) on the role of LSPs and the importance of a commercial approach to ensuring rapid take-up of NECS. The Committee noted the concerns expressed and requested NECO to continue liaising with IBLSA on implementation planning issues.
Additional Risk Advice - The Steering Committee received additional risk advice from Clayton Utz on the relationship between NECS Ltd and each State and Territory. The advice confirmed that with appropriate arrangements in place there need not be any additional liability for participating governments from the operation of NECS.
The additional advice has been published as an addendum to the National Business Model’s risk assessment.
Updated Funding Model - The Steering Committee received an update of the NECS Funding Model (NFM) taking into consideration better estimates of market potential, recent decisions of the Committee and jurisdictions on transaction fees and a slower rate of take-up. The Committee resolved that the NFM continue to be treated as commercial-in-confidence.
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Meeting 8: 23 November 2007
In Brisbane on 23 November, 2007 the National Electronic Conveyancing System Steering Committee met for the eighth time. The outcomes of the meeting constitute a significant step forward in the development of a truly national system.
There was some discussion on progressing the offer made by Victoria earlier this year to sell its ECV system, including all documentation and intellectual property rights, to the jurisdictions as a group for an agreed amount. More information about that will be available early next week.
Of particular importance were the Committee’s decisions to:
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Include a representative of the Australian Government as a member, and
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Establish a joint government/industry National Project Team to develop the detail of NECS.
Australian Government Membership - In view of the national ramifications of NECS, the Australian Government had sought membership on the Steering Committee. The Chairman, Mr Les Taylor, supported the expansion of the Committee noting that the benefits would include:
- Recognizing the national nature of NECS and its importance to the Australian economy
Strengthening and re-enforcing the Committee’s national focus among industry stakeholders
Adding another option to the way in which the legal framework for NECS is implemented
Providing an entry point into the agencies of the Australian Government.
The Committee noted that NECS fits in well with the concept of red tape reduction, harmonization of regulation and national solutions to national problems. Involvement of the Australian Government will provide experience with other similar projects.
The Committee welcomed the Australian Government as a member and its representative joined in the rest of the meeting in that capacity.
National Project Team - The industry members of the Committee representingthe users of the system have been quite clear in their view that the development of NECS is to be conducted on a fully integrated, national basis with one project using one process to deliver one outcome. At the meeting the Committee endorsed a proposal to include industry representatives in carrying forward the National Work Program.
The proposal involves establishing a National Project Team, accountable through the National Office to the Steering Committee. It will comprise representatives of key stakeholders possessing the necessary technical and specialist knowledge of electronic conveyancing and settlement to work collectively and collaboratively in delivering NECS.
The Steering Committee acknowledged the critical role of industry in the process. It resolved that a working party representing all stakeholder groups is to be convened in the New Year with the purpose of developing the structure and arrangements for the National Project Team.
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Meeting 7: 29 June 2007
The 2nd National Steering Committee meeting saw Eddie Haddad standing in for Paul Broderick, Bruce Roberts for Grahame Searle, Steve Wilden for Kevin O’Callaghan and Chris McRae for Genevieve Overell. Brett Phillips, Kevin O’Callaghan and Richard Glenn were present by teleconference. Craig Mariano (WA), Ian Ireson (Vic) and Judith Pinczuk (AIC) were new observers.
The minutes of the previous meeting on 30 March 2007 were reviewed and agreed as a true and correct record of the meeting.
The Chairman reminded the meeting that at the last meeting the National Business Model was confirmed as the basis for national electronic conveyancing. He advised the Committee that a meeting of the jurisdiction members had been held the previous day. At that meeting Neil Lawson presented a report on the Queensland evaluation of the Victorian system. The study was undertaken to see if it could handle Queensland requirements and to ascertain how easy it was to modify to fulfil the requirements of other jurisdictions. The report concluded that it was easy to modify and appears flexible enough to be modified to meet foreseeable requirements of the jurisdictions and NECS.
The Chairman also reported that the jurisdictions had not changed their views on the resolutions passed at the previous meeting and there was no support for a federated model or any other model.
Victoria agreed to make its Electronic Conveyancing system available for use as a basis to develop the detailed requirements for a national system and to identify any gaps and extensions required to satisfy a national solution.
The Steering Committee directed the National Office to expedite the establishment of NECS Ltd and the development of national standards through LIXI.
Industry members of the Steering Committee expressed their support for the national approach and noted the vital importance to the success of the project in having involvement of key stakeholders.
The Executive Director presented the National Office Update which included reports on the following:
- Presentations to various stakeholder groups
- State Project Team meeting
- LIXI agreement and the resultant first meeting of the NECS Data Standards Management Group,
- Release of the NECS Requirements Definition,
- Forward Work Program,
- Tenders for the NECS Implementation Plan and the NECS Solutions Architecture
- The National Infrastructure Development.
In relation to the Forward Work Program for the National Office it was noted that whilst the Jurisdiction Readiness Development and the National Infrastructure Development components would remain the same, the National Roadmap Development component would need to be revised to accommodate the use of the Victorian system in finalizing the definition of requirements for NECS
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The Chairman, Les Taylor, opened the meeting and advised that Robert Bradshaw, Director, Legal Policy, at the NT Department of Justice replaces Greg Shanahan as the Northern Territory’s representative. The Chairman thanked Greg for his valuable contribution to the work of the NSC.
Several new observers were in attendance. They were Duncan Halford and Leilia Fallon (ANZ Bank), Chris Reinhardt (NAB), Justin Schmitt (Westpac), Lara Went (CBA), Brian Parker (IBLSA), Pauline Barrow (AIC) and Richard Glenn who replaced Karl Alderson from the Federal Attorney-General’s Department.
The Chairman advised the Committee that a meeting of the jurisdiction members had been held for the purpose of ascertaining the commitment from the jurisdictions to the National Business Model. The Chairman noted that when referring to the National Business Model he was specifically referring to the business model published by the National Office as part of the National Roadmap. It did not allow for any other arrangement, including one resulting in 8 separate systems whether in a federated model or otherwise. The Chairman advised that each jurisdiction member present, Kevin O’Callaghan (SA), Des Mooney (NSW), Robert Bradshaw (NT), Neil Lawson (Qld), Michele Moseley (Tas), Chris McCrae (Vic) and Graham Searle (WA) confirmed that they were committed to the National Electronic Conveyancing System as described in the National Business Model.
The Chairman noted that the project is an important one for Australia and that the banks, as major players have an important role to play. He confirmed that it was the banks who said at the outset that they would not support 8 different systems and that it was that requirement that gave the impetus to the national project.
The Executive Director presented the National Office Update which included a report on presentations to various stakeholder groups, the completion of a progress report on consultation and the progress of an agreement with LIXI to develop a National Electronic Conveyancing Data Standard.
The Executive Director reported that, as a result of the invitation by Victoria at the last meeting of the Committee, Jurisdiction Working Group meetings were held to assess the Victorian system (ECV) in light of the alignment review. Each jurisdiction presented scenarios ECV would need to handle in a multi-jurisdiction environment and received assurances from Victoria that its system could be readily and economically modified to satisfy all of the scenarios presented. It was agreed by the jurisdictions that the way forward was to continue to develop the requirements for the National Business Model and, at the appropriate time, consider ECV as a potential supplier for provisioning NECS. In this context, the alignment review did not need to be considered further.
Neil Lawson advised that Queensland is testing ECV to see how cost-effectively and easily it could be modified for Queensland’s specific requirements. This would help inform the Committee as to whether ECV is sufficiently robust and capable of ready modification to meet another jurisdiction’s requirements. He advised that a report, after consultation with Victoria, would be provided to the National Office when the work is completed.
The Committee decided that it is no longer appropriate to pursue an agreement with Victoria to transition its system into NECS. This was the position reached when Victoria advised that such an agreement would not be possible until there was a suitable NECS entity in place with adequate funding and Victoria’s due diligence processes had been satisfied.
The independent consultancy reports on risk assessment, regulatory review and governance were well received by the Stakeholder Working Group meeting of 2 March. Their findings will provide guidance in further developing the requirements for NECS and its supporting arrangements.
There was also discussion of the proposed funding model which allows the Committee to understand the major elements of the project and the possible capital requirements of the first 10 years. These policy assumptions will be reviewed as further information is provided by jurisdictions and the funding requirements and success criteria are further refined. The Funding Model will continue to be discussed and refined prior to it being published.
The Committee confirmed:
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That the National Roadmap is the basis for defining and implementing NECS and that the Roadmap documents are to be updated and re-published with the relevant findings and recommendations of the independent consultants’ reports on risk, regulation and governance and of the national consultation so far.
As a result of these decisions of the Committee, the Executive Director recommended that the next step in developing the National Business Model is to prepare a comprehensive and detailed plan for implementation of the NECS. This recommendation was accepted by the Committee and the National Office is now moving forward with the preparation of an implementation plan.
The next meeting is scheduled to be held on 29 June 2007 in Perth.
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The National Steering Committee for NECS met in Sydney on 15 December 2006 for the fifth time marking its 1st year anniversary.
Tony Newbury, replacing Peter Achterstraat from the NSW Revenue Office and Robert Bradshaw representing Greg Shanahan of the NT were introduced and welcomed.
The new observers were: Karl Alderson from the Federal Attorney-General’s Department, Jim Walker from the Victorian project, Matthew Hay from the NSW Office of State Revenue, Richard McDonald from the Information Brokers and Law Stationers Association and Helen Donovan from the Law Council of Australia.
Simon Libbis presented the National Office update in which he outlined the progress achieved by the National Office including the wide reaching consultation process and the progress of the independent consultancies.
The Strategic Alignment Report commissioned by the NSC was presented to the meeting. The Key Findings of the Alignment Review were:
1. Settlement Functionality
Detailed functional and non-functional specifications of ECV with respect to settlement can be substantially re-used to meet the NECS requirements.
2. Lodgment Functionality
It has been specifically designed for Victorian requirements and the underlying architecture is inadequate to satisfactorily meet the requirements of NECS for a national multi-jurisdictional system. There is real value in work produced, especially the subject matter expertise and with the infrastructure employed which may be able to be used and extended to meet NECS.
Victoria disagreed with these findings and Ms Overell of Victoria invited all the jurisdictions to visit Land Victoria with appropriate technical staff to test their own data in the Victorian system and make their own assessment as to its value. This meeting is to be coordinated by the National Office.
A decision was reached for the National Office to set up a Stakeholder Working Group to to view the ECV system. All jurisdictions also committed to commencing engagement of their respective governments in the process Of moving towards a national system of electronic conveyancing.
The National Steering Committee also endorsed the pursuit of an agreement with Victoria on how ECV could transition into NECS.
The next Steering Committee meeting is to be held on 30 March in Melbourne.
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The National Steering Committee for NECS met in Brisbane on 25 August 2006 for the fourth time. New members Brett Phillips (ACT) and Ian Gilbert (ABA) were welcomed. Key outcomes of the meeting included the decision to complete a strategic alignment review of NECS and the Victorian EC systems and the decision to include a representative from the National Office in an advisory capacity on the Victorian project’s control board. The Committee congratulated Victoria on its launch earlier this month of a limited pilot of electronic conveyancing for financial institutions in that State.
The Committee also noted reports on the progress of independent consultancies on risk, the regulatory environment and ongoing governance arrangements for NECS; State project teams discussions on the NECS Operations Description Notes for National Uniformity; and the Office’s program of consultation, scheduled to finish later this year. A Commonwealth observer will also be invited to future meetings at the suggestion of the Federal Attorney-General the Hon Phillip Ruddock MP, initiating Commonwealth engagement on this hitherto solely State and Territory initiative.
The next meeting of the National Steering Committee is scheduled for November 2006 and will mark the Committee’s One Year Anniversary.
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The Committee met on 2 June 2006 in Melbourne to endorse the NECS Operations Description and move towards a NEC Data Standard. Other matters discussed included work towards the commercial principles of NECS and reports on the consultation forum establishment, the work of the States and Territories and revisions to the draft National Business Model to bring it up to date with developments in conveyancing over the last year since it was first published.
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State and territory governments, financial institutions, lawyers, conveyancers and information brokers had their first meeting for 2006 on 24 February. The Committee endorsed:
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A strategy for nationwide consultation by the National Office, involving introductory visits to each jurisdiction, the establishment of four online forums to discuss aspects of the proposed NECS business model and the establishment of State and Territory project teams to advise the Office on jurisdiction-specific requirements, conduct local stakeholder engagement and develop individual readiness plans
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Four briefs to conduct the regulatory and risk assessment reviews, review the Victorian pilot to assess suitability for provisioning NECS and work out the ongoing governance arrangements for NECS.
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The inaugural meeting of the NECS Steering Committee was chaired by former Chief Solicitor and General Counsel for the Commonwealth Bank Group, Les Taylor.
All members confirmed their commitment to the national approach and will meet early in 2006 to finalise the committee’s structure and endorse a rigorous work program for the National Electronic Conveyancing Office.
Simon Libbis, Executive Director of the National Office, presented the Office’s forward work program and highlighted for the Committee that they will be making the following key decisions during 2006:
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Confirmation of the National Business Model and the functionality intended for the NECS
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Allocation of risk and management of liabilities, including operational governance of the NECS
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Commercial parameters for the establishment and sustainable operation of the NECS
- Implementation viability and planning.
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