Canberra Liberals will create a Strata and Building Commissioner
ACT Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee has announced that a Canberra Liberals Government will establish a Strata and Building Quality Commissioner.
Ms Lee said the Strata and Building Quality Commissioner would be a single point of contact for Canberrans facing challenges and issues in strata living and building quality; and will champion common-sense change within government.
"This would include but not be limited to legislative changes that improve how strata corporations work or how they interact with ACAT, changes to the design of government programs to ensure they are accessible and useful to owners and tenants," Ms Lee said.
"Over the last decade we've seen the ACT Government pushing more Canberrans into strata properties by not offering genuine choice when it comes to housing options, but we have not seen the same level of enthusiasm for ensuring that the concerns of strata owners and residents are heard and resolved.
Shadow Minister for Sustainable Building and Construction Mark Parton said that Canberrans had been raising concern about the Labor-Greens government’s inaction in many areas of concern around strata living and building quality.
"The current approach by the ACT Labor-Greens government is not working and that is why the Canberra Liberals have a plan to improve accessibility, engagement and responsiveness right across government,”
Mr Parton said as soon as a Commissioner is appointed, one of the first priorities will be how we can better support the take-up of shared energy infrastructure in apartment buildings and townhouse complexes.
"We hear of too many examples where there's a broad support in a complex for rooftop solar, EV charging, or other initiatives but nothing happens.
"We need to do a lot better at identifying and removing these obstacles and that is exactly what a Canberra Liberals Government will do,” Mr Parton said.
"A Commissioner will be an agent for change and will play a significant role in determining practical steps that we can take to address the growing concerns within our strata community, as well as improving building quality in Canberra," Ms Lee concluded.
