Submissions
1.
Thoroughbred Breeders Australia Ltd (“TBA”) is the parent company for six State
Breeders Associations being:
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
Thoroughbred Breeders N.S.W. Ltd
Thoroughbred Breeders Victoria Inc.
South Australian Thoroughbred Breeders Incorporated
Thoroughbred Breeders Queensland Association Incorporated.
West Australian Bloodhorse Breeders’ Association Inc
Thoroughbred Breeders Tasmania Incorporated
2.
A meeting was held between myself on behalf of TBA, Ms Jacqueline Stewart, Keeper of
the Australian Stud Book (“ASB”) and Andrew Sellers, General Counsel Legal and
Governance, Australian Finance Security Authority in late 2013 regarding the impact that
the PPSA has had on the Thoroughbred Industry, being the matter to which these
Submissions relate.
3.
TBA is providing these Submissions in respect to and on behalf of all Thoroughbred
industry participants.
Industry Background
4.
All Thoroughbred horses are required to be registered with the ASB before a
Thoroughbred horse can be sold at auction or raced in Australia.
5.
The body responsible for registering the Thoroughbreds is the ASB.
6.
A unique identification number known as the life number (“Life Number”) is provided to
each horse upon registration with the ASB.
7.
The Life Number is a globally recognised identification number.
8.
The Life Number should not be confused with the microchip number as microchipping
was introduced for foals born from 2003 onwards. There was no requirement to microchip
horses prior to 2003 and as such the older horses do not have a microchip number. The
microchip is issued by ASB and is linked to the Life Number.
9.
The ASB operates an online database (the “Database”) on their website
www.studbook.org.au which provides users with a facility to search the database to obtain
basic information relating to a particular horse.
10. To search the Database an individual is not required to be a member of the ASB nor is
there a fee for searching the Database.
11. The search can be based on the Life Number or name of the Thoroughbred.
12. The Database currently does not provide any information regarding the owners of the
horse or if the horse is under any finance.
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13. There is currently no system in Australia which can be searched to identify the owners of
the horse.
Issues regarding Personal Property Securities Register (“PPSR”)
14. Currently, in order to register a security interest on the PPSR, secured parties are
required to register security interests against a ‘grantor’.
15. A vast majority of Thoroughbred horses are owned by more than one individual or entity
and as a result the registration process can become expensive and convoluted as it is not
possible to correctly identify the ‘grantor’.
16. Further to paragraph 155 and due to paragraph 12 above, in most cases the owners of
the horses cannot be identified which results in issues regarding ineffective registrations
and unnecessary priority disputes.
17. The PPSR currently does not provide a workable mechanism to register a security
interest and to search a Thoroughbred horse.
Solution Suggestions
18. It is submitted that a solution would be to include Thoroughbred horses as a ‘serial
numbered good’ by utilising the Life Number.
19. This would alleviate the need to obtain details of all owners of the horse and would
provide an efficient and cost effective means of registering and searching security
interests.
20. Further, we understand that ASB has suggested the ASB Database could be cross
referenced in a similar way that motor vehicles are cross referenced with the Motor
Registry.
21. The contact details for the Keeper of the Stud Book are:
Ms Jacqueline Stewart
Australian Stud Book
Locked Bag 70
RANDWICK NSW 2031
studbook@studbook.org.au
22. A copy of these Submissions has been provided to the ASB.
___________________
Chauncey Morris
Chief Executive Officer
Thoroughbred Breeders Australia Ltd
Locked Bag 3
RANDWICK NSW 2031
chauncey@tbaus.com
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