Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The New South Wales Liberal government, the Baird government, is attacking the rights of apartment and unit owners in our area, and many members of our community are deeply concerned about these reforms. In October 2015, the New South Wales Liberals amended the state's strata laws. Under the new laws, the percentage of owners required to agree to sell a complete set of units for redevelopment has been reduced from 100 per cent to 75 per cent. This means that if 75 per cent of owners in a strata unit complex agree to sell then the remaining 25 per cent, who may be opposed to that sale, are forced to sell also, and the 75 per cent majority can include the developers who are seeking to knock down and redevelop that unit block.

This is an unfair reform that attacks people's property rights, particularly those of the vulnerable and elderly in our community. I am standing up in our area against these reforms. Recently I ran a petition campaign in the community, calling on members of the community to express their opposition to these dastardly reforms to our strata laws, and 1,075 people in our community have signed the petition, and signatures are continuing to roll in, calling on the New South Wales government to reverse this disgraceful decision.

This reform is unfair. It is unfair because it changes the rules on the sale of a person's property—their homes that they have invested in, that they may own and that all of their memories of their family growing up are part of. This takes this decision about when a person sells their own home out of their hands and may place it in the hands of developers, and that is unreasonable and unfair.

This is a particularly worrying attack on the rights of elderly people in our community. Let us say, for instance, you have a block of units; say there are 10 units in the block. Say two of the people who own those units are elderly—maybe widows or retirees—and have lived there for decades. It is their home—the place of all of their memories. They do not want to move. They are comfortable and happy where they are. They have called it their home for many, many years. Under these new Liberal laws, if eight of the unit owners in that block agree to sell, then the two elderly unit owners will be forced to sell also. They will be forced to lose their right to determine when to sell their home and how they sell their home and whether or not they pass it on to their kids.

Eighty-eight-year-old Kingsford Smith constituent Vern Philpot spoke to the ABC about the changes late last year, and he said that he was very concerned that his Randwick apartment could be sold out from under him. He said:

I don't see why they should be able to change your status just because they want to make a lot of money …

I could not have put it better myself, because that is what this change is all about. It is about allowing developers to come in and override the property rights of individuals—to make a quick buck out of potential developments.

Even the experts who work in this field have poked holes in this flimsy reform. Speaking to the media, University of New South Wales strata title expert Dr Cathy Sherry said that the change would result in people being forced to sell their homes. She said:

It's the Government empowering private citizens to take other people's property …

And that is exactly what is occurring here. The New South Wales Liberal government is empowering citizens to take other citizens' property off them and take away their say in when they sell their homes.

These laws are expected to take effect from 1 July 2016. However, typically, the Liberals have rushed this reform from the get go, and the detail on how it will operate is still to be determined. The regulations associated with this legislation are yet to be written.

On behalf of our community, I call on the Baird government to listen to the people—to listen to the opposition that there is in our community to these dastardly reforms. It is not too late to reverse these horrible changes that have been made to strata laws in New South Wales. Reverse this decision. Remove the 75 per cent rule which allows developers to come in and buy properties from people without them having a say in their future. Do the right thing by strata owners in New South Wales. Reverse these dastardly laws.