More information about the Unit Titles Act and its issues

I have now written several times about the Unit Titles Act 2001 in the Australian Capital Territory. To save everyone the time and the effort that it has taken me to find and collect and collate information I have attempted to put together one small paper that I hope is at present quite a definitive set of links and commentary on this issue.

Have a look at Unit Ownership in the ACT at Pete's Points

If you have comments or concerns or just want to discuss the contents do let me know by leaving a comment.

More News about the Unit Titles Act 2001

In an earlier post on this subject, see Unit Titles Act 2001

I suggested how annoyed and disappointed I was with the staff employed by ACTPLA the Department that seems to be assigned the task of managing the operations of the Unit Titles Act 2001.

I became even more disappointed when I went to a so called ACT Shop Front service centre and asked my questions there, only to be given advice to call a few phone numbers that actually resulted in my getting nowhere.

Finally, in desperation, I rang one Minister's office and was able to speak with a charming spokesperson who admitted that she did not know the answers to my questions, but would make it her business to find out. I also rang the other Minister's office and once again encountered a spokesperson who was most charming and offered to find out the answers to my questions.

By early this morning I was sent a brief email by one of these spokespersons who also rang to advise that the message was coming through and what it contained. It was a link to a site somewhere within the ACTPLA computer system.

The link was to a Guide to the Unit Titles Act. Very nice. It also explained that I would have to take action in a Magistrate's court to deal with any issues arising from the administration of the Act.

Subsequently I received a call from an ACTPLA officer who expanded on the information from the Minister's office by explaining that the actual link should be to:

http://www.actpla.act.gov.au/topics/programs_projects/change/unit_titles_review

At this link there is a link to the copy of the Act, to the Guide and also to a paper that actually writes up the parameters for a discussion on Consumer Protection under the Unit Titles Act 2001 issues in October 2006 and promising that there would be consultation following an on line survey which was supposed to have been on line until November 24 2006. According to one part of the document:

"The objective is to have a draft Bill available as early as possible in 2007 and a final Bill before the ACT Legislative Assembly in June or July 2007." (see page 5)

OOPS!

It's now a full year later and the consultation has not yet started, nor have the public consultations and of course the latest advice from the Minister's office is that perhaps the changes may happen in the next year.

Meanwhile, if you have a complaint about conduct I am advised that you have to look in Section 54 of the Unit Titles Act and take up your issues privately with a Magistrates Court or if things get ugly with the Supreme Court.

To all of this of course I say - RIDICULOUS!

How can you have a piece of legislation which requires anyone making a complaint to have to take expensive and difficult legal action in a court when the Department concerned should take on the responsibility of administering the impact of the legislation that the government has introduced and given it to manage.

To argue, as appears to be the case at present, that there is no provision for this in the Act is - at least in my view irresponsible, especially as the most likely development of living arrangements in this Territory are increasingly likely to be in dwellings under the provisions of this legislation.

I urge all of my readers who live in the ACT to look at the facts, explore the issues and then send your comments, concerns and complaints to the Minister's office and to the Department concerned.

Let's all get off our collective asses and fix this legislation and the need to have consumers protected and enabled to take appropriate action to enforce their rights and to ensure that the Government enforces breaches of its legislation.

Kevin 07 - The PM Elect

Labor has won a resounding victory!


I am one of many people I guess who has lived long enough to see two out of three Labor governments elected to run this country. It looks like I have also lived long enough to see an incumbent PM actually lose his seat to a TV announcer (ably supported by her partner a Labor Party Strategist) - the second one ever in the history of this country!

It was an emotional evening!

It will also be the last time that the logo above will be seen in this blog.

Well done Labor.

As for Mr Costello the 'leader in waiting' - let's hope that this leader will stay in waiting for quite some time.

The Unit Titles Act 2001 as amended

This may be the most boring topic on earth for most of my readers (except those who actually live in this town).

None the less, I will risk the wrath of my reading public and explore this issue anyway!

At present there is a piece of legislation entitled the Unit Titles Act 2001. In Canberra much of the housing stock seems to comprise of "units" that do not necessarily have to be flats, but can in fact be free standing homes with both a front and a back yard which nevertheless require a form of self government - generally these bodies are called Owners Corporations. This form of self management is in line with the notions under which Torrens Title operates and which in the past people have known as Strata Title. In any event I will not digress to describe the Act or what it contains except to say that included in the wording are quite a few references to the penalties that people face if they do the wrong things. They are called PENALTY POINTS and different offences carry different penalties that are expressed in a multiple of penalty points where if someone from an Owners Corporation commits the offence then they face a fine of $100 per penalty point and if an Agent commits the offence then the cost of the fine is $500 per penalty point.

I was at an Annual General meeting of an Owners Corporation the other day and the meeting ended with a resolution that all of the owners would constitute the Executive Committee - ie the body that manages the affairs of the Owners Corporation in between meetings. This body can and usually does appoint an 'Agent' who is generally described as a Body Corporate Manager.

There are a whole host of rules and requirements as to how these Agents are appointed and ostensibly controlled by the Executive Committee and there are also loads of requirements that ought to govern their behaviour.

Interestingly, these agents do NOT have to be licensed, they do not have to have any qualifications and indeed do not seem to be accountable to anyone.

Which brings me to my point.

I contacted the Department of the ACT Government that is supposedly responsible the Act ACTPLA and asked whether anyone could actually show me how I could register a complaint about the actions of an Agent or indeed a member of an Executive Committee?

I was told that there was (at least to the knowledge of TWO of the officers in that Department that I talked with) no actual process that they were aware of and they could not identify HOW (if at all) their Department administered the Act or indeed was able to apply its requirements.

They have of course said that they will consult with their superiors and get back to me and if they do and we get no further with this inquiry then I am afraid that the Minister is going to get a call to please advise how the Act for which he is responsible is actually administered and enforced when necessary.

If HE does not know - then I think we seriously need to start a process where the "consumers" who pay a small fortune to Agents to manage properties that are worth in many cases many millions of dollars actually can be held accountable or for that matter owners who make up the so called Executive Committees can be held accountable.

One suggestion from a young public servant was that perhaps I should contact the Strata Managers Institute. I am afraid that I had to point out to this young woman that this Institute had at its head four of the most major principals of the leading companies that actually offer their services to managed properties, that it was only formed last year, barely has a constitution still has no Code of Ethics or processes to self regulate within the industry.

In any event it would be grossly inappropriate to complain to a self regulating body about a breach of legislation.

So watch this space folks because this writer is determined to get to the bottom of this question and find out what DOES exist and if nothing to start the clamour to get something in place that protects the rights of property owners in this Territory.

Let's all hark back to a previous era . . .

"Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." (January 20th 1961 John F Kennedy inaugural address)

Most people who were alive at the time are not likely to forget these sentiments.

It from this perspective that I think many Australians today need to think about viewing the forthcoming elections.

After a generous spending spree that totals billions of dollars of OUR tax money, the mentality of some people still seems to remain Dickensian or more to the point the view expressed by the character of Oliver Twist in the novel by the same name:-

"Please Sir, I want some more."

Yes MORE - well at least that's what the headlines are saying at the ABC

"Democrats candidate for the seat of Reid, Silma Irham, says other issues, like local services, are key concerns at this election.

"We need a lot more services here, particularly for the multicultural migrant community," she said."

Perhaps I am out of line, and some may even consider me insensitive, but enough is enough!

Let's all stop asking for handouts and start doing things for others rather than demanding more from them.

Lest you think I am some privileged native Australian who has no idea what he is talking about - let me first tell you some of my story.

I was a refugee from a country in the turmoil of a civil war, where political opinion was limited to those who had joined and participated in the ONE party system that was permitted and where people were even denied jobs unless they joined "the party". I was one of a religious minority that was not exactly welcome to practise my religion. I was from a family that was working class and finding it difficult to find work without compromising its principles and we were in fear of our lives as men with weapons and tanks invaded our streets!

We did what a lot of people in our situation did we fled across the border and arrived in a refugee camp!

We were finally assigned refugee status and then we had to try and find a country willing to take us in. After a long struggle Australia came to the party and we were finally permitted to come to Australia to settle.

This was at a time when the concept of services to migrants was virtually unknown much less any real services being available, when the levels of unemployment were similar to what they are now, when social welfare was not available and services in state and federal agencies that accommodated different language and cultural needs were simply not in existence.

I don't know about others, but I was grateful for the opportunity to start a new life here and to learn to fit in and to contribute.

The fact that services were not attuned to my cultural needs or my lack of English was not something we felt we could grumble about.

We were free and safe! That was enough!

The fact that we might have to work two jobs AND take in additional work at home was just the way things were.

We learned how to survive and thrive.

The conditions provided the motivation to learn the language, to obtain the skills that were needed and to find work that was better remunerated, so that over time we would only have to work one job and not take on piece work at home.

At a time when there is the lowest unemployment in 33 years and when almost anyone can get a job and one that is well remunerated to boot, when there are services galore in both private and public enterprise, this is not the time to keep demanding more assistance.

To paraphrase JFK:- Ask not what Australia can do for you - ask what you can do for Australia!

That's the lesson this Democrat candidate needs to learn.

I know that if I was in her electorate I would certainly not vote for someone that continually looked for handouts and more services instead of encouraging people in her electorate to think about what they were going to do for themselves as well as others!

Experienced and Seasoned Ministers? Hardly!

The ABC reports:

Federal Nationals leader Mark Vaile has apologised for appearing to question the independence of the Auditor-General.

The Auditor-General last week released a damning report into the Coalition's Regional Partnerships program, and Mr Vaile described the timing as "strange".

The Auditor-General's report found that the Regional Partnerships scheme had failed to meet an acceptable standard of public administration, and ministers had approved projects against departmental advice.

Mr Vaile now says he makes no judgement on the timing of the report's release.

"I regret any inference of that I'd left that might have cast aspersions on his professionalism or independence," he said.

I find it remarkable that no one has taken Mr Vaile's comments and his earlier antics of trying to ride a skateboard with his cap on backwards as examples of the churlish and childish behaviour from one of the most senior members of the government.

While the Howard government tries to paint a picture of the opposition as a bunch of amateurs who have no experience in leadership and in government, the deputy Prime Minister is allowed to get away with comments like the one above with just an apology and a retraction.

What HAS this man learned and taught his colleagues in his 11 years in government?

"Arrogance" would come to mind immediately as one observation. If this is the level of experience and sound judgement that Mr Howard keeps claiming for his colleagues then I suspect that most electors would find his accusations about members of the opposition somewhat tainted.

Of course some of the other more senior Ministers in the government have fared no better in the last few weeks of the campaign. Mr. Abbott the Health Minister has been filmed at a private Party meeting being less than politically sensitive and also been filmed making rude and crude remarks when he thought the cameras had been turned off.

The signs of an experienced and reliable politician that one could trust with the health portfolio or just what he has been described as being in other media outlets - namely a "bully boy."

Whatever the opinions that people may have about Labor and the Trade Unions if they are fair in their assessment of the achievements of the current government then they will have to admit that there is an increasing amount of evidence emerging about the arrogance, childish and churlish behaviour of government ministers as well as evidence of what I would certainly call mismanagement of the taxpayer's money to give their supporters more largess and provide less than a 'fair go' for other Australians who happen to disagree with their political views.

That's what the Auditor General has pointed out and if that is what the members of the Howard government have learned in their 11 years of power then it's more than high time for them to vanish from the political stage - preferably in disgrace!

The Minke Refugee!

An interesting news story today was about a poor Minke (pronounced Minkie) whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) that seems to have ended up some 1600 kilometres from the ocean up a river in the Amazon basin.

Personally, I think the poor thing got hopelessly lost and has been unable to find his/her way back to the ocean.

Of course I could be wrong.

Japanese whalers have been working hard to find capture and kill these whales for their 'scientific research program.'

Any sophisticated mammal with a high degree of intelligence facing a devastating form of genocide would most likely be searching for a place to go and claim refugee status.

The question is will any one understand the call for sanctuary?

I have no idea if anyone has actually learned enough whale to act as an interpreter!

Health Care Consumers

I don't know about anyone else, but as someone who is and has been a health care consumer, I have found it useful to get in touch with organisations in my immediate surrounds that represent ME to the various health authorities.

Alone, I suspect that I can do very little to influence the way in which these large and somewhat cumbersome bureaucracies work and yet my experiences, especially when added to the experiences of others like me may actually have an impact on how services are designed and delivered.

To this end, I joined a Health Care Consumer representative organisation and actually managed to go to the next step and get myself trained as a Consumer Representative and then go even one step further and actually represent consumers with the local department of health at an ongoing forum where they were discussing one of the ways that services were to be delivered.

During my stint in this position I was continually wondering how it could be possible to increase the level of communication that I had with my 'constituents' i.e. people who were also consumers of the services so that I could tap into their knowledge and experiences and then be in a position to better represent us all.

My first thought was to turn to some of the people who actually saw and assisted these people - for example psychologists, social workers, doctors etc as they are in a position to see many more people than I could. Of course their points of view would be second hand and possibly tainted with their own "spin" on how their patients or clients could be assisted - a form of spin that might also be tainted with a little personal perspective on how any changes to service delivery was likely to affect their own service provision.

In other words this was not necessarily a useful idea.

The use that our politicians are making of the Internet has provided me with a new wrinkle on communications.

Political candidates are now using this new form of media as a way of reaching groups of people who previously could only be reached through letter drops or pamphlets.

What has become evident is that the need to communicate may well be part of a more global problem and solution that has manifested itself in our society.

Computers and their parts are still relatively expensive - not only to purchase, but also to connect to the Internet, maintain, use and recycle.

Existing in most communities these days are organisations that actually take old and unwanted computers - working or not and spend time and effort recycling them, refurbishing where possible and then making them available to people on low incomes as a way of enabling them to get with the computer revolution and join in on the communications media of the 21st century.

So I have asked myself whether it would be possible to use a site on the web as a way of reaching out to health care consumers and enabling them to communicate with each other and with their representatives so that they can share their stories and so develop some interactive ways of enabling themselves to have a say in how future services are to be delivered.

It's something that needs to be explored and I wonder if any of my readers have any suggestions that they would like to make on how to get this going?

Unlike the Liberal Party of Australia which seems hell bent on maintaining its scare campaign concerning the inexperience and trade union connections of Labor Party candidates - the opposition has to do nothing else but simply highlight the unfairness of the industrial relations proposals that have been created by the current governments industrial legislation.

For example the ABC has provided the following news item:

"Figures from the Australian Workplace Authority show almost half of all Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) lodged with it since May have been rejected for not complying with the Federal Government's fairness test.

The Workplace Authority's report for October shows more than 25,000 agreements submitted do not meet the minimum standards set out in the fairness test."

Julia Gillard says the Government's IR system is a nightmare for employers and employees. (File photo) (AAP)

So the real question is - will people vote for a party that has created industrial relations laws that encourage employers to try and mistreat their employees and take advantage of them or for a party that has announced that it will repeal these laws and bring back some industrial justice and fairness for Australian workers?

If - Labor is learning then it's more than the Liberals have done over the last 11 years

Have you seen this Advert from the Liberal Party of Australia?

If you have, you will note that it is the reverse side of an advert for the Liberal Party of Australia which features soft pastel blue and yellow colours.

The colours alone of this piece of badly written propaganda are intended to bring home to the reader amessage of "WARNING WARNING"

Red tends to have that impact on most people and the fact that it is coupled with Black would suggest the Anarchist colours alas of course (for the Liberal Party of Australia that is) it also features a bright yellow colour as well.

This emulates the colours of Australia that have been chosen by indigenous peoples in this country to represent the true colours of both Australia and of course of the indigenous peoples themselves.

In one hit the Liberal Party of Australia has brought attention through its fear campaign to its issues with the indigenous people in this country and it's total disrespect and fear of people who have actually worked for a living and risen (in many cases) from poverty through hard work and effort, to a position of importance.

Will this all backfire for them? Let's hope so!

The people represented on this fear campaign advertisement are genuine workers who have had to struggle to get to university to get an education who have actually WORKED for a living and know what it's like to go without and to achieve success through hard work. They are also people who joined a Trade Union to obtain through such membership the solidarity against oppression and exploitation that is no doubt perpetrated by many Liberal Party supporters.

They then went on to give service to others, at first through running for office in their trade unions, then through election to public office.

Not for them the easy life of being supported by rich parents or a dynasty of rich people and assuming that they have a "right to rule"

Yes they will be learners if elected to government in their Ministerial portfolios.

What a wonderful thing this is! At least they are LEARNING something.

If only the people on the other side had spent the last 11 years in office doing the same thing!

It appears that they have done no learning and now expect electors to be fooled into voting for them AGAIN!

Meet the Boss!

When I see headlines like: "Driverless car wins robot challenge"I start to worry!

"A driverless car called Boss has scooped a $2m prize in a Californian race for robotic vehicles."

"Larry Burns, GM's vice-president for research and development and strategic planning, said developing cars that drive themselves is a key objective.

"Imagine being able to talk on the phone, eat your breakfast, handle your emails, and leave the driving to the vehicle," he added.

He believes cars with that level of intelligence could be on the road by 2015."

OK I am imagining! Let's assume that the technology is taken care of and we have one of these robotic monsters on the road.

1. Who is going to be licensed to drive? - It can't be the fellow eating his breakfast, reading his e-mails etc.
2. Who will you be able to sue when an accident happens? - This time the slurred story of "But offischer, I really wasn't driving under the affluence of incohol, the "Boss" was driving." will actually be believable.
3. Who will have to pay the speeding tickets that are incurred - the manufacturer or the passenger? Or do they send the ticket to the "Boss"
   

These and many other mysteries of life will be interesting to wait for - All I have to do now is to hang around long enough to see what happens!

"Tokyo - Japan's Agriculture Ministry reprimanded six bureaucrats after an internal probe found they spent work hours contributing to Wikipedia on topics unrelated to farm issues — including 260 entries about cartoon robots."

I wonder what we would find if we did a similar check here in Australia?

Considering that we have local, state, territory, and Commonwealth government employees whose combined numbers are probably staggering the total number of person hours that might be devoted to diligent work that has nothing to do with what they are paid for could constitute an interesting statistic.

If it is then possible it would be even more interesting to obtain similar statistics for employees in private companies.

From the statistics obtained it should be possible to provide some answers to the following questions (at least):

1. If Australian workers currently work extensive hours over and above what they are paid for - could we reduce the time they spend away from their families by stopping them from using their company's facilities and time for their own enjoyment?
2. If Australian workers spend time 'working' at things that have nothing to do with their jobs, using their company's facilities and time - to what extent could the costs of the products for which they are responsible be reduced by stopping them from 'working' in this way?

I would like to see the Communications Minister in Australia get to work on this preferably BEFORE the elections here - then we might see whether we can get some cost reductions across the board in our cost of living regardless of which political party finally manages to win power for the next few years.

More buying power or less, depending on who you are!

Otherwise reported as "Aussie dollar hits 23-year high"

While this means that any Australian, under 23 years of age AND going overseas AND buying their currency today, is likely to be told "You never had it so good," it is a different story for some people who are going to be tourists here in Australia.

Tourists already in Australia are likely to be having a harder time than usual IF they did not purchase Aussie dollars when it was low and have been using ATMs to withdraw money from their accounts at home. The decrease of the purchasing power of their home currency is likely to either cause some comments about "how expensive" Australia is.

What of course THEY do not consider is that WE have had to pay heavy expenses in their countries when their currency was more valuable. I reckon turn around is fair play - let the US and UK visitors finally see what it has been like for us when we were over there.

Meanwhile for those purchasing O/S currencies now for use in their travels in the future think in French and silently say to yourselves "Vive la difference"