SCA Advocacy Round Up

National

In December 2023 SCA released an industry first Strata Insurance Disclosure Best Practice Guideline, seeking to improve strata insurance practices and outcomes for its members, consumers and the strata industry as a whole.

Focused on three key steps: disclose, document, and communicate, the guides introduce a new standard for SCA members as it relates to communicating insurance placement information, ensuring that strata insurance practices are transparent, and consumers are provided with enough information to make informed choices on insurance.

SCA had a significant achievement following a considerable amount of consultation with the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The occupation title of ‘strata manager’ will now be included in the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO). This will now allow for the widespread collection of data about strata managers, including how many there are on the ground, their distribution, training, skills, duties and many other metrics. Data of this kind is incredibly important, and will assist in future advocacy for our sector, allow us to increase vocational education training, apply for funding, progress professionalism standards and a multitude of other positive outcomes.

Australian Capital Territory

SCA (ACT) has been encouraged to see the progression of the ACT Governments proposed Property Developer Bill, which is seeking to establish a new accountability framework for property developers carrying out residential building.

SCA (ACT) supports the reforms, however, has called on the ACT Government to approach the issues of liability carefully so as not to create a disparity of outcomes between builders and developers operating in the ACT.

Furthermore, SCA (ACT) continues to work closely alongside the government as a core stakeholder, frequently providing valuable feedback on unit titles reform considerations as they arise.

New South Wales

SCA (NSW) actively champions the strata sector’s significance within the considerations of the NSW Government. In collaboration with the Office of the Building Commissioner, the association recently released the 2023 Strata Defects Survey, revealing that serious defects in new strata schemes registered since 2020 decreased from 34% to 27%.

SCA (NSW) continues to maintain robust relationships with key stakeholders, including the Hon. Anoulack Chanthivong MP and Strata and Property Services Commissioner, John Minns, and maintaining a position at the forefront of the highly anticipated Strata Stage 2 Reforms.

SCA (NSW) played an important role in shaping the Strata Legislation Amendment Bill 2023, achieving successful assent on 11 December 2023, marking a significant advocacy milestone.

New Zealand

SCA (NZ) has started the year strongly in the advocacy space, taking proactive steps to educate members and bring together industry places to improve understanding and future activities in relation to New Zealand’s building and construction sector. Trust in the quality of the apartments and townhouses that have been constructed, and will be constructed, is critical to the future of the strata sector throughout Australasia.

SCA (NZ) has begun the process of engaging with the New Zealand Government, through their national statistics body Stats NZ, to create a separate classification for body corporate managers, similar to the stand-alone classification that was just achieved in Australia at the Australian Bureau of Statistics, through ANZSCO.

Queensland

SCA (Qld) continues to meet with members of the Government, the Opposition, and the Crossbench ahead of the 26 October Queensland State election. Over the last month a number of issues have been raised including strata insurance, combustible cladding, building defects, regulation of strata managers, strata workforce issues, management rights, and the recently announced ‘Homes for Queenslanders’ plan. Keeping the pressure on government at all levels is crucial to ensure that we see the best outcomes possible for strata reform in Queensland, and to improve our industry.

South Australia / Northern Territory

SCA (SA/NT) has recently established the Northern Territory Strata Advocacy Working Group, which is seeking to address necessary and long-overdue reforms to the governing strata legislation, and spur increased advocacy and engagement in the territory. Notably, the working group is concerned with the core issues of insurance affordability and availability in the Territory, professionalism, debt recovery and building reform.

Victoria

SCA (Vic) has been active in engaging with local and state government on behalf of the strata sector. At the local government level, SCA (Vic) recently received a grant from the City of Yarra to run a pilot program of monthly engagement sessions on the topic of sustainability in strata. These sessions will be held at venues across the City of Yarra from April until September and provides an opportunity for our members to share successful sustainability strategies with the broader community.

SCA (Vic) met with the Office of the Minister for Planning to discuss a number of topics which are important to the strata sector in the planning space. SCA (Vic) has also had further discussions with the Department of Transport and Planning, which have been positive and productive, as part of the ongoing process to develop a Building Manual.

Tasmania

Reinvigorating the Tasmanian government’s strata reform process, as well as addressing localised insurance and building quality concerns are top of the agenda for SCA (Tas) this upcoming year.

Western Australia

The main governing strata legislation in WA, the Strata Titles Act 1985, is beginning its mandatory 5-year review process in 2024. Through SCA’s relationship with Landgate (WA’s Land Titles Office), SCA (WA) is in a strong position to provide critically important feedback throughout the consultative process, that represents the needs of members, consumers, and the wider strata industry in Western Australia.

Concurrently to this process, SCA (WA) has been focused on proactively engaging with other property industry stakeholders on the ground in WA. They recently met with industry groups such as Property Council WA, UDIA WA and REIWA, seeking to build stronger relationships and to develop enhanced collaboration opportunities in 2024 and beyond.