Page 692 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 31 March 2021
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citizens and to the lives of citizens in the Northern Territory. It takes people standing up with us and for us to restore our rights and, by doing so, to do the right thing.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Planning and Unit Titles Legislation Amendment Bill 2020
Debate resumed from 2 December 2020, on motion by Mr Gentleman:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
MR PARTON (Brindabella) (11.47): What we see going on in this chamber on a day-to-day basis is a combination of theatrics and actual government, and this bill is actually about government. This is a bill which is required. At the start, I want to basically say that it has been put together exceptionally well. This bill does a bit of tidying up on several bodies of legislation that mainly relate to purchase of property and strata title management processes. We on this side will not be having a great deal to say about this bill because we like it.
We must remain conscious of the impacts of the growing scope of legislation on affected sectors, in this case the residential accommodation supply sector. The property sector is certainly going through its growing pains at the moment, that is for sure, and so it is a sensible thing to adjust legislation to enable greater clarity or to make its objectives work easier for those affected by it.
Unit titles management has become an area of considerable challenge for unit owners and strata management service providers alike. Certainly there are aspects of this bill that have a great deal of complexity attached to them, and I commend those who have put it together for the way that they have.
In recent years we have seen very steep growth in multi-unit complexes, with attendant impacts on the strata management industry. Legislation has had to evolve, with the growing body of provisions related to the obligations and conduct of owners corporations being an increasing burden on their functions. The strata management industry must be agile enough to meet the demand to support a growing number of owners corporations but, also, owners corporations have to muster executive bodies with the skills, time and resources to perform the job or otherwise contract some of it out to a strata manager.
To illustrate the challenges on owners corporations, I think we should take for example the role of the secretary of an executive committee who is required by the Unit Titles Management Act to provide all the certificates required under that act. It is not an inconsiderable task in terms of time, in terms of cost and record-keeping. Even if the task is contracted out to a service provider, it still represents a pretty significant burden on the secretary who bears that statutory responsibility. This is just one example among the many complex responsibilities being carried by members of executive committees.
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