Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Justice and Customs) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Personal Property Securities Bill 2009. The purpose of this bill is to provide for a single national law to deal with personal property securities, PPS. PPS reform will address the complexity of over 70 Commonwealth, state and territory laws, common law rules and rules of equity governing personal property securities. It will provide a modern and efficient personal property securities regulatory system, which is essential for any modern financial system. The bill is modelled on the New Zealand, Canadian and US legislation. It also draws on work by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law and the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law. The bill will also address the relationship between potentially conflicting Commonwealth, state and territory laws. The bill specifies where other laws prevail. For example, the bill will not apply to tradeable water rights, water access entitlements, goods affixed to land or to non-consensual interests such as liens. Furthermore, a state or territory will be able to expressly exclude a right, entitlement or authority granted by law of the state or territory from application by the bill.

The various states and territories have long had their own mechanisms for the registration and management of securities given over personal property to secure financial obligations. Familiar examples include fixed and floating charges, bills of sale, chattel mortgages and registers of hire-purchase agreements. It has also long been recognised that there is a need for national harmonisation of these arrangements to provide greater certainty for borrowers and lenders and to increase efficiency in the sector.

The matter of PPS reform was referred to the Australian Law Reform Commission in June 1990. Draft legislation informed by the ALRC’s report was prepared in 1995, and it was itself the subject of extensive consultation. The matter was pursued through COAG, which in 2007 endorsed the model of a national system. The former Attorney-General, the honourable member for Berowra, gave this issue particular priority. In October 2008 COAG signed an intergovernmental agreement to effect the proposed legislation as part of the seamless national economy agreement between the Commonwealth, the states and the territories. New South Wales has passed its referral act, and it is expected that the other jurisdictions will follow soon.

The bill will apply, with very limited exceptions, to all types of personal property, including motor vehicles, contractual rights, intellectual property rights and uncertificated shares. It provides for rules for the creation, priority and enforcement of security interests and to establish a national register of them. There are detailed, specific provisions in relation to certain classes of property. The coalition support this bill; however, we foreshadow potential amendments in the Senate.

I conclude by stating that this bill would not have been possible without the hard work and efforts of the member for Berowra, a minister in the previous government, Philip Ruddock. I thank the Main Committee.

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