YEAR IN REVIEW

Chief Executive's Foreword

Like the State of Western Australia, the Department of Land Information also celebrates its 175th anniversary in 2004. As the oldest State Government department, DLI and its forerunners have been responsible for surveying and mapping since a colony was first established in WA in 1829.

Although celebrating such a milestone compels us to look backwards, it also provides us the opportunity to look forward. It is an apt time to do so - the 2003/2004 financial year involved many changes in our structure and functions, and put in motion the mechanisms for DLI to take a significant new direction.

Our move towards becoming a statutory authority with commercial powers progressed strongly this past year. Crown land management was transferred to the Department for Planning and Infrastructure; new divisions and roles were established within the agency, and a reform of business processes, structures and products and services has occurred to align them to DLI's new strategic direction.

The creation of a separate entity known as Land Information within the portfolio of DLI's new Minister, The Hon Nick Griffiths MLC, also highlighted the growing importance that land information is taking within this State.

The past year also proved a winning year for us in terms of awards. Our ground-breaking Energy Performance Contract, established us as leaders in energy efficiency and cost savings, and won us both a Premier's Award and an Environment Award.

The Electronic Advice of Sale 2 (EAS2) initiative, one of DLI's successful e-commerce programs, was also presented with a WA Information Technology and Telecommunications Award.

And just recently, DLI scooped three awards for its 2002/2003 Annual Report (including a Gold) at the WS Lonnie Awards.

These awards have shown that DLI is achieving high standards in both our core duties and those that are outside our traditional land information scope, but form part of our Government responsibilities.

Our achievements have taken place during a year that has been extremely busy across the agency but nowhere more so than in the business of titles and land registration.

Continuing the trend from the previous two years of record high document lodgements, DLI processed the highest of all time this last financial year. A total of 400,158 documents were lodged, equating to $39 billion of mortgages secured by our registration system. On top of the hectic pace, DLI's staff continued to achieve excellent customer service and at the same time, constantly look to develop new ways of serving our customers better.

One such way was shown with the November launch of Landgate, DLI's new gateway to land and property information.

Marking a new era in land information, this DLI project is one of the first online land and property portals in Australia.

Landgate is in line with the worldwide trend to harness the Internet to directly link business needs with relevant government information. Utilising the concept of joined-up government services to improve service delivery, it has the potential to create new business opportunities by expanding the community's access to government land information.

Online services, such as Landgate, help to establish DLI as a leader in land information. It has created a first in e-government initiatives in our State, and has paved the way for even bigger and better ways to service the community of Western Australia.

Five years ago the agency developed its strategic plan 'New Horizons', which set the agency's goals and missions to the year 2005. We are now at the time when we need to take 'New Horizons' to a different level to meet the needs of Government, business and the community - as well as our staff. Setting a new strategic direction for the next five years of the agency will be a challenge for the months ahead.

I believe we have the right people and we are travelling in the right direction. Experience and confidence, together with a clarity of vision that comes from having such a long history, will ensure that we are creating a benchmark organisation of national and international standards.

GRAHAME SEARLE
CHIEF EXECUTIVE

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