Firing shows it’s time strata had its own minister

The abrupt sacking two weeks ago of Eleni Petinos, Minister for both Small Business and Fair Trading, has exposed a major flaw in both the NSW government’s ministerial structure and its recruitment processes.

If nothing else it has revealed an archaic system where strata affects more people more profoundly than most yet can be the least of the incumbents’ concerns.

It should be of concern to all apartment residents and investors that strata schemes, real estate and residential rentals all come under the monolithic but routinely overlooked ministry of Fair Trading.

That department is a kaleidoscope of unrelated concerns, from defective kitchen appliances to licencing of tradies, chook raffles, cybercrime, the motor trade and charities.

It is a huge and complicated department with competing sections, often with contradictory priorities. And that makes it all the more perplexing that the department is used as a training wheels position for newly minted ministers whose capabilities are unknown and potential untested.

The last Minister to have an extended run in the job was current Planning Minister Anthony Roberts who, his three-plus years, saw in the radical strata law changes of 2016. Current ( presumably reluctant) incumbent is Victor Dominello who has stepped back in to fill in for Ms Petinos.

The shortest tenure must go to the also recently departed Stuart Ayres, in the job for barely two months, while the most-forgotten must be the Matthew Mason-Cox, currently speaker of the upper house.

Many survive the bureaucratic baptism and go on to thrive in more senior roles. But that’s the problem – if they are capable, they move on to higher office rather than being left to consolidate and grow in their roles.

That system may have been relevant when strata living was relatively new and a mostly unloved area of housing. But there are more than a million residents in strata in NSW, alone.

This problem of dissipated focus is not unique to NSW. In Victoria, Consumer Affairs is similarly multi-faceted, and Minister Melissa Horne also has responsibility for Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Ports and Freight, Local Government and Suburban Development.

In Queensland, body corporate matters come under the “rights, crime and the law” section of the Attorney General’s office.

NSW strata advocates have argued for years that the state needs a stand-alone department, yet even now in the third decade of the 21st Century – when apartment living is the best hope for arresting a chronic housing crisis – investors, residents and renters currently must compete with myriad other issues for the minister du jour’s attention.

Inevitably, this leads to civil servants acquiring considerable power and influence over policy and practice. When ministers of varying ability churn at an alarming rate, public servants must provide the continuity and maintain the culture.

However, that can be stultifying for innovation and change, especially if the gold standard is maintaining the status quo.

That’s one reason Eleni Petinos’ appointment to both Small Business and Fair Trading was seen as an insult to strata owners and residents – and that had nothing to do with her abilities or character.

Not only was strata suddenly sharing ministerial bandwidth with all the other Fair Trading concerns, it was now competing with small businesses for attention.  And right to the end Ms Petinos made it clear that small business had her singular focus.

Even in her valedictory press release, she straessed that she would be continuing to advocate for small businesses. Fair Trading didn’t rate a mention except to note she had briefly been in charge.

Former Fair Trading incumbent Victor Dominello has taken over Ms Petinos’ responsibilities for the time being. The question is, will we eventually see another neophyte minister take either role, or both?

Or is it time to make a long overdue structural change? The fact that the new, whizbang online strata portal is now embedded at Planning and Construction could be a sign of an impending shift – although we’ve been told this is purely about consolidating all the resources in one cyber silo.

The biggest single issue in strata right now is dealing with the construction of defective buildings.  That’s where Building Commissioner Chandler is making a huge difference; he is embedded in Fair Trading and not, as many assume, in Planning.

This may be the perfect opportunity to create a separate ministry, possibly under the aegis of Planning and Housing, where strata truly belongs.  There junior ministers would benefit from the experience and direct oversight of more senior colleagues.

And Fair Trading could leave the tradies, mechanics, broken toys and defective toasters to their more natural home alongside small business.

A version of this column first appeared in the Australian Financial Review.

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