Welcome back to 2023

Personally, I can barely believe it is already February. It has been an immensely busy time for us all in the SCA (Qld) team, particularly in the advocacy space.

SCA (Qld) has hit the ground running, building on our strong advocacy program from last year with further submissions to Government on important topics like the Role of Developers, Dispute Resolution and the Regulation of Body Corporate Managers.

Our submission to the Developer Review strong emphasised consumer issues and recommended a strata hub for information and consultants to provide feedback on developers, reform to off-the-plan contracts (management rights and similar) and for significant increase in the oversight of construction of multi dwelling apartments including defect insurance. 

Our submission on Regulation of Body Corporate Managers borrowed heavily from the New South Wales model. This included a proposal for a similar Professional Standards Scheme and an enhanced role for the Office of the Commissioner.

Our dispute resolution submission focused on investment and training in the Commissioners Office, a more “interventionist’ approach to dispute resolution and providing proactive guidance to schemes.

These were all significant submissions and I cannot thank the Legislation Committee and the Licensing and Regulation Taskforce for their hard work in supporting Kristian Marlow in preparing this documentation. Importantly, I can assure members that your voices were very much ‘front and centre’ in our submissions, which were the culmination of several surveys, direct member engagement on topics and the Hackathon where we sought your input on the SCA (Qld) position.

The ongoing quest for positive reform to make your lives at work easier is something we think about every single day. But we need your feedback as industry professionals at the coal face to understand just how best to change legislation for the better.

If you see anything in your day to day work life that you feel would be fixed or improved by a change in legislation please let us know. We are on the cusp of some really transformative reform, and we may not get another chance for decades. So please, take the time to have a think and let us know the direction we should take. 

It’s also important to note that advocacy is not just about legislation. It’s very much concerned with effective stakeholder relations. Our team has been focusing on building on our productive meaningful relationships with our existing stakeholders, and also engaging with new stakeholders. These relationships are starting to bear fruit as we prosecute the case for strata; the benefits of strata living and importantly, the benefits of professional strata management.

Last week, we have received significant media coverage in both the Brisbane Times and excitingly the Financial Review. This week, we had several interviews on various ABC Radio Breakfast programs. The pleasing part of this coverage has been the fact that SCA (Qld) is now being proactively sought to comment on significant strata issues and ‘density’ or community title living. We are actively involved in the conversations on urban infill and solving the housing crisis..

Another important point for all members to understand was that the Financial Review, as a national masthead was reluctant to encourage investment in Queensland strata due to some of our outdated legislation, particularly management rights. This outsider perspective shows just how badly reform is needed in this space. 

In the past two years we have enhanced our media and advocacy profile substantially, and while we have achieved great legislative change in some areas, there is always more to do. We need to know what you think, please drop us a line at advocacy.qld@strata.community anytime to raise an issue affecting our sector. We look forward to hearing from you.  


Laura Bos
General Manager