Australia did not develop the PPSA. It is a tried and tested system that originated in the United States in the 1950’s. It was then introduced in the Canadian provinces starting in the 1970’s. New Zealand implemented a PPSA system predominantly based on the Saskatchewan (a Canadian province) legislation in May 2002.
There does not appear to be key piece of overseas legislation on which Australia has based its PPSA. Rather, the Australian PPSA is a composite mix of the New Zealand, Canadian and United States legislation. The explanatory memorandum to the Australian PPSA simply states that the PPSA has been based on New Zealand, Canadian and United States examples. There does not appear to be a close base model law which Australians can refer to for clues. The New Zealand and Canadian PPSAs are likely to be the closest reference examples to the Australian PPSA.
The PPSA implemented such significant changes to Australian financing transactions that it has touched some aspects of the lives of almost every Australian.
This book is a guide to the PPSA, hopefully with sufficient detail so that readers can find where they are going, but not so much detail that readers get lost in the PPSA forest. It is designed primarily for practitioners, companies and students operating in spaces affected by the PPSA, such as lawyers, insolvency accountants, auditors, bankers and companies engaging in transactions that are regulated as security interests or otherwise under the PPSA.
The PPSA is an entire secured transactions system wrapped up into one thick Act of Parliament. It is not an easy read. However, the PPSA does not need to be difficult. If the main ideas are extracted, and presented in an understandable way, then all things PPSA become a little easier. That is the goal of this book.
Given that the PPSA introduces many relatively new ideas, diagrams, symbols and tables may be helpful to remember these new ideas. This book is not short on diagrams, symbols and tables. They are included with good intention and spirit. Hopefully they bring a different learning experience to the PPSA.
This book aims to cover most of the important rules and principles under the PPSA. This book does not cover every aspect of the PPSA, to keep it as short as possible. For example, some topics not covered include:
(A) the judicial proceedings section (Chapter 6 of the PPSA),
(B) the constitutional operation section (Part 7.3), and
(C) the section dealing with the relationship between Australian (Commonwealth and State) laws in relation to PPSA matters (Part 7.4).
These issues should not come up that regularly. If more detail is required, reference can be made to the PPSA itself.
How significantly has the PPSA changed Australian finance law? The PPSA codifies (collects and restates) many aspects of the law of secured transactions (mortgages, charges and other security interests) in relation to personal property as it stood just before the anticipated commencement of the PPSA in early 2012. Many new changes were also introduced.
To give a quick overview of the number and nature of changes to Australian finance law which the PPSA has effected, these changes are summarised in Chapter 29 (Summary of Key Changes to the Previous Law).
There is some repetition of content in this book across the various sections and Chapters, because many similar ideas and rules under the PPSA apply in different contexts. This leads to some repetition, but hopefully it serves to allow each chapter to stand relatively discretely, with minimal (but of course some) reference to other chapters.
