Hi Whale,
I agree with you in principle, but as we all know the Law isn’t an exact science and a certain amount of discretion is required to cover every situation. I think the point Leif was making was ‘consent’ must be sought and actually ‘granted’.
I am sure there are many cases of judges deciding that trespass would have to be considered with the prime right of an Australian Citizens privacy to be upheld. I am enlightened by your experience seems to favour an OC with the right intentions, and I would support that, but having witnessed the exact opposite happening I see the very real negatives in a generalisation of s65. Has there been many successful applications of this from the point of view of an OC demanding access to a private lot? I cannot find a listed decision on the legal sites.
My point regarding the CTTT and enforcement is that it has to be applied by a jurisdictional court in order for some weight to be added to the order. An order under s65 could easily be appealed by an owner, who for whatever reason did not want the OC or their agents to enter onto their private parcel. It very readily gives rise to other issues such as fraud on the minority, nuisance ect.
Anyhow, I think this site is great as everyone’s opinion (leif, whale, JimmyT, etc.) on the subject sheds light to the different elements of each case. It would be great to have a clear black and white answer to these issues, but it’s not always as simple as that. Hopefully Newbie will allow access for the sake of improving the common property of their lot.