Co-podder Sue Williams and I took ourselves off to the Owners Corporation Network’s 20th anniversary event last week and it turned out to be a very revealing evening indeed.OK, the plaudits and praise were flowing faster than the free wine – and that’s saying something. I hosted and Sue delivered a fascinating speech about how the OCN was formed in the darkest days of battle against corrupt developers, their sleazy managers, our supine strata committee and our incompetent strata managers.We thought we were suffering a unique confluence of bad luck … until Sue met other strata chairs and discovered we were far from alone.The big event, however, was Building Commissioner David Chandler’s speech. In it he revealed the next phase of his revolution, which will gladden the hearts of owners in older buildings.He also flagged an interest in carbon neutral buildings in the future and had a none too subtle sideswipe at yours truly for my ongoing campaign to get strata out of Fair Trading.But it was generally agreed that the work OCN and especially its executive officer Karen Stiles has done laid the groundwork for David Chandler’s appointment as building commissioner.You can hear David’s speech in this podcast, but OCN members will be able to stream the entire event — including Sue, strata lawyer Stephen Goddard, OCN chair Fred Tuckwell, stalwart Gerry Chia and Karen (Brokovich) Stiles – on their website ocn.org.au. There were also messages from Fair Trading Minister Victor Dominello and City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore.If you’re not a member, there’s a simple remedy for that. Check it out … but only after you have listened to this week’s Flat Chat Wrap.TRANSCRIPT IN FULLJimmy 00:00So as we mentioned last week, we went to the OCN's (the Owners Corporation Network's) 20th anniversary event on Wednesday. There were quite a lot of high-powered people there.Sue 00:12Yes, the room was packed. It was a fabulous occasion.Jimmy 00:16The Building Commissioner, David Chandler, was there and the Property Services Commissioner was there.Sue 00:21John Minns...Jimmy 00:22And we got a video message from Victor Dominello and Clover Moore. It was very exciting and interesting. So today, we're going to take a listen to what David Chandler said in his speech. He said a couple of really interesting things about new innovations. We'll have a chat about that. I'm Jimmy Thomson, I wrote the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review.Sue 00:46And I'm Sue Williams and I write about property for Domain.Jimmy 00:48And this is the Flat Chat Wrap. David Chandler seems to be a very popular man?Sue 01:07Absolutely. He's a great speaker, isn't he? I mean, he's very colourful and interesting, and very accessible.Jimmy 01:12Yes. We're going to take a listen to his speech and then we'll have a chat about that... "Now, without OCN, we might never have been blessed with a Building Commissioner at all. And without this particular Building Commissioner, we might never have witnessed the profound and meaningful change in the building industry. Please welcome your Building Commissioner, David Chandler."David Chandler 01:37Well, it's a privilege to be here today, because we've been on a l
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Recorded by Jimmy Thomson & Sue Williams; Transcribed by Otter.ai.
Find out more about Sue Williams and Jimmy Thomson on their websites.
