ownership and use

This page considers the shape of Australian official registers regarding ownership (eg land, firearms, vehicles and pets) and uses (driver and recreational fishing licensing).

It covers -

• introduction
• land
• driver licensing
• vehicles
• firearms
• pets
• recreation

The page supplements discussion elsewhere on this site regarding privacy, security and the Australia Card.

     introduction

Registration of tangible property is of interest to government as both the basis of commercial activity and as a source of revenue, with state/territory and local governments for example gaining substantial funds from taxes on realestate values/transfers and from a plethora of licenses such as dog registration. Much of that registration involves identification of individuals.

    land

Registration of real estate in Australia is undertaken by state government agencies -

The state/territory agencies are -

• ACT - Registrar-General's Office (RGO)
• New South Wales - Department of Lands (DL)
• Northern Territory - Land Titles Office (LTO)
• Queensland - Land Registry (LR)
• South Australia - Land Titles Office (LTO)
• Tasmania - Office of the Recorder of Titles (ORT)
• Victoria - Land Registry (LR)
• Western Australia - Landgate (formerly Department of Land Information) (Lg)

Financial institutions and other entities can access data (online or in hardcopy) about property titles from those bodies. They also exchange information, for example as part of mortgage transfers and as part of credit referencing.

Access to the Australian registers is somewhat more restricted than the UK, where the Land Registry launched its Land Register Online service in 2006, allowing anyone with web access, a credit/debit card and an email address to access information on who owns a property, how much was paid for it (if registered since April 2000), the length of any lease and which lender provided the mortgage. The Land Registry holds information on 19 million properties in England and Wales. The chief land registrar commented that "The Land Register is a public database and as part of Land Registry's strategy we are committed to ensuring that it is accessible to everyone".

The Australian personal property securities (PPS) register regime - which for example allows users to determine whether a motor vehicle is encumbered - is discussed later in this note.

Introductions to the Australian regime are provided in Robert Chambers' An Introduction to Property Law in Australia (Pyrmont: LBC 2001) and Sackville & Neave Property Law Cases & Materials (Chatswood: Butterworths 2004) by Brendan Edgeworth, Chris Rossiter & Margaret Stone,

    driver licensing

The power to make laws regulating road transport falls within the constitutional power of State and Territory legislatures, with broad coordination under Road Transport Agreements in 1991 (the Heavy Vehicles Agreement) and 1992 (the Light Vehicles Agreement) between the national government, states and major territories.

As official documents that incorporate a photograph (and are now held by over 50% of adult Australians) drivers licences have served as the de facto standard identity document in many private and public sector transactions.

Driver and vehicle registration is a state/territory rather than federal government responsibility, with state governments maintaining discrete driver license registers. There is thus no single integrated database or manual register covering all Australian drivers.

The scope for regulatory arbitrage led to implementation in 1999-2000 of a national driver licensing scheme under the auspices of the National Road Transport Commission, with uniform requirements for key licensing transactions such as licence issue, renewal, variation and suspension/cancellation. The scheme provides that people who reside continuously for over three months outside the state/territory in Australia in which the licence was issued should transfer the registration to the new jurisdiction.

    vehicles

Registration of Australian motor vehicles is a federal and state/territory responsibility, with vehicle number plates accordingly being issued by the states, major territories, the national government (for official purposes) and the armed forces. A set of plates is typically associated with a specific vehicle, rather than the driver or owner, and often lasts for that vehicle's on-road life.

Questions about data sharing are highlighted in the discussion of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) systems elsewhere on this site.

    firearms

There is similarly no unitary national register of firearms and other weapons.

The Australian Constitution does not feature an explicit right to own/bear arms, somewhat to the surprise of people whose awareness of such law primarily derives from watching US television dramas. Following the 1996 Port Arthur incident the Australasian Police Ministers' Council reached a Nationwide Agreement on Firearms (NAF) which committed the federal and state/territory governments to registration of all firearms and the licensing of firearms owners. State/territory legislation regarding firearms registration is itemised here.

Firearms applicants are required to have a "genuine reason and need for owning, possessing or using a firearm" (eg wish to use a gun for sport or on a farm). They are also required to be aged 18 years and over, be a "fit and proper person" (ie meet character tests), be able to provide proof of identity through a 100-point system and undertake "adequate safety training".

The state and territory each established a consistent and firearms registration and firearms owner licence system. That system is typically maintained by a Firearms Registry branch in each police jurisdiction. Websites for those registries are itemised here.

The Australian Institute of Criminology notes that the rate of homicide involving firearms has fluctuated from as low as 0.16 per 100,000 population in 1950 to as high as 0.78 in 1984 (an average of about 81 persons killed per year), with substantial differences between Australian jurisdictions.

    pets

There is no single national dog, cat or other pet register in Australia. Registration of companion animals centres on licensing of cat and dog ownership.

Licenses are issued by local government (eg municipal and shire councils) under state/territory legislation such as the Western Australian Dog Act 1976 and the South Australian Dog & Cat Management Act 1995. That licensing provides revenue for the governments and in principle ensures that owners can be held legally responsible for damages caused by their pets and reunited with lost animals.

In practice it appears that under 60% of urban pets are registered, with owners evading registration at the time of acquisition or periodic renewal (typically every one or two years).

Information is not exchanged between the different local government databases and development of comprehensive RFID-based national schemes by commercial and nonprofit bodies has been impeded by disagreement about standards and costs.

    recreation

As with companion animal licensing, recreation licences such as fishing licences are issued under state/territory legislation rather than federal enactments. The registers are typically not publicly available but as with other databases may be accessed by a range of law enforcement agencies and other officials.

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