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The land registries in Queensland and NSW have committed to continuing the progression of interoperability despite ARNECC pausing the program.
Just weeks after the Australian Registrars’ National Electronic Conveyancing Council (ARNECC) said it was pausing the design, building and testing of interoperable functionality in order to resolve issues raised by the banking industry, NSW and Queensland land registries have thrown their support behind the program, saying they are keen to progress competition in e-conveyancing.
In letters sent to industry last week, the NSW and Queensland land registries have said they would be “jointly and proactively exploring options to resolve the issues facing the program”, with a view to recommencing the design, build and testing of interoperability functionality as soon as possible.
The pause on interoperability has been slammed by the Competition Minister Dr Andrew Leigh MP, who told REB’s sister brand The Adviser earlier this month that the failure to bring about competition in e-conveyancing was costing home buyers.
“I think it’s really important for states and territories to step up, to recognise the value for home buyers in getting cheaper conveyancers,” he said at the time.
NSW and Queensland governments – the first two jurisdictions to enable users to choose which e-conveyancing platforms to use when settling on property – have both now reaffirmed their commitments to deliver interoperability in their states by December 2025.
In letters seen by The Adviser, the registrar general/CEO of titles of both states wrote: “Queensland and New South Wales, as the jurisdictions releasing interoperability first, are jointly and proactively exploring options to resolve the issues facing the program with a view to recommencing the design, build and testing of interoperable functionality as soon as possible.”
In a letter to Sympli, the registrar generals said that they believed the company – a major challenger to PEXA’s monopoly in the e-conveyancing space – would also “continue to have sufficient resources to comply with its regulatory obligations to support the interoperability reform, including meaningful engagement with registrars and other stakeholders to actively resolve these issues”.
Queensland and NSW land registries both said they would be inviting all electronic lodgment network operators (ELNOs) to “discuss and workshop options and steps to continue this important reform”.
“As this joint work progresses, Queensland and New South Wales are considering the scope of any waiver of ELNOs’ interoperability requirements. Any waiver is likely to be targeted at specific operating requirements and subject to conditions, rather than providing broad relief from interoperability obligations,” they said.
“We remain committed to working as quickly as possible to determine next steps and get the interoperability program running again for the benefit of the community and the e-conveyancing market.
“We look forward to working together more closely and constructively with both ELNOs on this vital reform.”
Noting NSW and Queensland’s commitment to pursue interoperability, Sympli CEO Philip Joyce said the company was “encouraged to hear that NSW and Queensland will push ahead with this national reform and deliver what successive governments have committed to – competition for the e-conveyancing market”.
Joyce told The Adviser that competition in e-conveyancing would deliver more choice, savings and innovation for everyone in the industry, including brokers, saying that competition through interoperability has been shown to “be the best way of delivering benefits to industry and consumers”, notably through fee savings, innovation and choice for practitioners.
“Competition will mean that brokers will enjoy innovative solutions available for lending services,” he said.
“Competition will deliver savings, innovation and choice for industry and consumers alike – we look forward to working with the NSW and Qld governments to deliver this by December 2025, including the use of enforcement powers to compel the incumbent monopoly to come to the table.”
Sympli has now called on other states to support NSW and Queensland in continuing the interoperability program.
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