It’s time to punt the point scoring on Mascot Towers
It’s been almost four years since their homes in a crumbling apartment block were deemed uninhabitable. But if that wasn’t hard enough (while being occasionally kicked to the kerb by…
Dominello
Deadline looms for cladding aid program
NSW strata schemes that have flammable cladding on their walls have just over a week left to register for the state government’s Project Remediate program which offers affected buildings interest-free…
Ten-year building warranty is a strata game changer
COMMENT: A crucial element in the NSW apartment building revolution has arrived with the first of the big insurers prepared to take a punt on Chandler’s five-star reforms. As we…
Building insurers back in the apartment game
When Building Commissioner David Chandler told us that his shake-up of new building standards in NSW would lead to a return of insurers providing cover for new apartment builds, there…
Development industry reforms ‘back on track’
After weeks of turmoil in NSW Fair Trading and in the Building and Property services commissioners’ offices, in particular, the loud and clear message is not so much “business as…
Chandler back as both commissioners return
Dodgy developers can re-cork their champagne – NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler is back in the saddle, ready to fulfil his extended contract until August next year. And while the…
Shame: How we were duped by anti-vaxxers
There is no easy way of saying this but I have been duped this past week and the likely culprits, according to the real victim in this, are anti-vaccine campaigners.…
NSW loses yet another minister amid FT chaos
NSW Cabinet has lost its third current or former Fair Trading Minister in as many weeks with the announcement that Victor Dominello is to quit politics at the next election.…
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…
How we changed the law on off-the-plan sales
It’s not often in journalism that you can look at a change in state law and say “I had a hand in that.” But the announcement of new protections for…
Roundup: Now strata residents have three amigos
Maybe it’s coincidence, maybe it’s a cunning plan, but the two MPs who had most to do with creating and establishing our new strata laws in NSW are now, after the…
Roundup: If you leave us, Mr Dominello, can we come too?
I was chatting the other day with the strata Minister Victor Dominello (his proper title is Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation). I realised afterwards that, now that he has…