Australian Government & Land Administration Systems

1. Day: Thursday 10th November • Session: 11.00 - 12.30 • Speaker: Peter Holland • Topic: Australian Government

2. Australian Government Geoscience Australia AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT & LAND ADMINISTRATION SYSTEMS peter.holland@ga.gov.au

3. OUTLINE • A good Land Administration System • Authorities of Australian Government and Land Administration Systems • Spatial data policy • Gaps in data availability • Conclusions

4. A GOOD LAS • A system or systems for recording land ownership, land values, land use and other land-related data • A good LAS will: • Guarantee ownership and security of tenure; • Support land and property taxation; • Provide security for credit; • Develop and monitor land markets; • Protect State lands; • Reduce land disputes; • Facilitate land reform; • Improve urban planning and infrastructure development; • Support environmental management; and • Produce statistical data.

5. AUTHORITIES OF AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT & LAS • These authorities include: • Taxation; • Census and statistics; • Banking and insurance; • Communication; • Defence; and • Pensions and allowances.

6. AUTHORITIES OF AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT & LAS (2) • Present administrative arrangements include: • Treasury and finance and administration; • Transport and regional services; • Defence & Attorney-General; • Human services, health & ageing, family and community services; • Environment and heritage; • Communications, information technology and the arts; • Agriculture, fisheries and forestry; and • Industry, tourism and resources.

7. SPATIAL DATA POLICY • Essential elements of policy: • Fundamental spatial data is provided free of charge over the Internet, at no more than marginal cost of transfer for packaged products, and full cost of transfer for customised services; • No restrictions on commercial value-adding to listed fundamental datasets; each transaction subject to licence; and • Australian Government will negotiate multilateral agreement with States and Territories for access to spatial datasets.

8. SPATIAL DATA POLICY (2) • In 2004-05, Australian Government: • Delivered 220,000 copies of schedule datasets, increase of 318%; • Spent $80 million on spatial data maintenance, an increase of 8%; • Earned revenue of $2.4 million from sales of schedule datasets, an increase of 54%; and • Introduced whole-of-government licence registration service and developed new metadata profile based ISO 19115.

9. GAPS IN DATA AVAILABILITY

10. CONCLUSIONS • From AG perspective good LAS helps: • Efficient operation of the economy & markets • Policy & program implementation • LAS should not have adverse impact: • But traditionally deferred to States • Some data gaps filled from LAS: • Would want on basis of AG policy • WoG issues likely to grow demand from LAS • Reform should facilitate national access • AG administers some ROR • Risk of cadastral creep • Need flexible, extendable, interoperable systems