President and CEO Report – Winter 2024
Strata managers serve as vital intermediaries and trusted advisors within the complex ecosystem of strata communities. Their role encompasses a diverse array of responsibilities, including but not limited to interpreting and implementing complex legislation, facilitating effective communication between stakeholders, administering financial and administrative tasks, and ensuring compliance with regulations and bylaws. With their expertise and dedication, strata managers play a crucial role in maintaining the harmony, efficiency, and sustainability of strata communities, contributing to overall well-being.
Strata business and industry practices have received focused attention of late, reinforcing a critical need to effectively evaluate and communicate about our practices and ensure we are taking a leading role in setting and supporting the highest standards for our members. SCA is committed to fostering ethical practices to empower members and advocate for responsible governance.
As the organisation central to building trust in the standards and professionalism of strata managers, service providers and the industry as a whole, we have spent a huge amount of time and resources since late March to address criticism and concerns and ensure there is confidence in the industry.
We have listened to and engaged with stakeholders from across the entire spectrum of the strata community, from owners and consumer groups, regulators and law makers to other industry and professional bodies.
Everyone that we have spoken to wants to see a response from SCA, both nationally and in the state or territory that they reside.
Towards this end, SCA collaborated intensively across each state, territory and national body through the already established mechanism of our National Special Council, which includes the whole national board and each state and territory president and general manager.
We committed to a series of actions that we believe will reinforce confidence and build on the platform of continuing professionalism that SCA has been working incredibly hard towards.
Many of the actions we formulated as part of our Six Steps to Ensure Confidence are not new and have been either partially implemented or in the works prior to these events.
Our actions seek to build on and enhance established SCA mechanisms, including our complaints process, our member Code of Conduct and our training courses and business certification including the Strata Management Practice Standard (SMPS).
You will continue to hear about our Six Steps to Ensure Confidence regularly as we progress each step:
- Fast-tracked the date for the mandatory requirement for SCA members to implement SCA’s Best Practice Insurance Disclosure Guide to 30 June 2024.
- Appointed an independent Chair for the SCA Australasia complaints and conduct panel.
- Allocated additional resources and improved accessibility to the SCA Australasia complaints process.
- Offered support for SCA member businesses to have access to appropriate resources, advice and training to improve practice where identified.
- Commenced the Independent Review of Ethical Business Practices in Strata to produce rigorous best practice guidelines that clearly addresses conflicts of interest in the strata sector, ethical business practices, and other disclosures outside of insurance.
- Supported the independent review SCA (NSW) will be conducting
National Advocacy
With half the year gone, it is worth reflecting on our strong advocacy agenda and some of the huge wins for the sector we have had already.
Nationally, and in engagement with the federal government, we have prioritised four target areas:
- Strata reform and recognition
- Strata insurance affordability, availability and practice
- Sustainability in strata
- Building and construction quality in strata
Some of the wins that we have had so far include:
- ANZSCO Strata Manager Classification: Following years of engagement and a detailed submission, SCA was successful in obtaining the ‘strata manager’ occupation with the Australia Bureau of Statistics (ABS) under their ANZSCO classification system. From 2025, data will be collected on strata management as a separate profession, which will aid research, grants, skilled migration and many other advocacy and sector activities.
- Electric Vehicles in Strata: SCA’s submissions, stakeholder engagement and research1 directly resulted in a strong focus on strata and multi-unit dwellings in the National Electric Vehicle Strategy2, with the government pledging to ‘develop tools and guidance to enable EV uptake for residents of existing multi-residential buildings’ and ‘support the co-planning of charging with energy system investments.’
- Energy Efficiency in Strata: Through SCA’s combined advocacy with other sector organisations, a cost-benefit analysis will be conducted that will specifically explore applying the NABERS and NatHERS tools to the strata sector and building common areas. Long term, this will improve energy efficiency through disclosure and subsequent better installation of technology and management, and is a significant win for the industry.
- North Queensland Strata Insurance: SCA and SCA (Qld) continue to engage with the ACCC and federal government to ensure the Reinsurance Pool is effective and legislated and announced measures are implemented, including the recent funding of the previously announced North Queensland Strata Titles Resilience Program.
Strata Insights Report
Preparations are underway for the 2024 SCA Australasian Strata Insights Full Report, with its release anticipated later this year. This will provide important information for SCA’s advocacy on behalf of the strata industry, for academics undertaking research on the industry, and for the broader strata community.
The 2024 Strata Insights Project will have two outputs:
- A report for external use summarising the numbers of strata schemes (plans) and lots (units), the numbers of people employed in the strata management industry, and the estimated value of property owned under strata title.
- A spreadsheet for SCA internal use summarising the numbers of lots and schemes, number of lots and schemes by scheme size and number of lots and schemes by registration date broken down into local government areas (LGAs); Federal electoral boundaries and; state electoral boundaries for those states and territories that permit release of the data in this form.
The UNSW City Futures Research Centre will investigate the possibility of publishing an updated interactive map of strata registrations over time, similar to that published in 20203, subject to approval by all state and territory land titles offices of publication of the data in this form.
ALISHA FISHER, AUSTRALASIA CEO
JOSHUA BALDWIN, AUSTRALASIA PRESIDENT
View Comments
(0)