Privatisation, the Consensus Algorithms of Blockchains, and Land Titling in Australia – where are we now, and where are we going?

Change is afoot in land registration in Australia. It is being driven by two factors, although perhaps the two, at least for Australia, are intertwined. The first is the privatisation, or what the authors prefer to call the commercialisation, of land registries in Australia; the second, the possible use of blockchain technology. Both of these recent developments seemed to have flowed quickly from the introduction of electronic conveyancing, although there does not appear to be any necessary link: electronic conveyancing can exist without commercialisation of registers, or the use of blockchain technology. But what has developed is the recently commercialised New South Wales Land Registry collaborating with the Swedish blockchain proponent ChromaWay on the role that blockchain technology can have with conveyancing and land administration in that state. Other jurisdictions must surely follow. The purpose of this chapter is to précis these developments and, importantly, identify what the authors consider will be the key questions arising from this digitisation of the administration of land conveyancing and where the authors think the process and challenges will lie.