We had a new PHO out last week – that’s a Public Health Order, not a Vietnamese noodle soup – and as we discuss in the pod, it’s more of a dog’s breakfast from NSW Health.Are we supposed to allow renovations in apartments when people are being told to stay inside and even work from home?Are cleaners essential workers? How about building managers? Does anybody in NSW Health realise that apartments and townhouses are significantly different from each other and, certainly, from free-standing bungalows?When they tell us to pass by-laws to fill the gaps in their legislation, do they even know that that means and how hard it can be.LISTEN HEREDo they know that some blocks – maybe even the majority – don’t have building managers, strata managers or even active committees? Or that half the strata population are tenants with zero effective say in the way their blocks are run?Is anyone in Fair Trading trying to explain the facts of strata life to the Health Department policymakers … and are they listening?We ask former OCN board member and active advocate for strata residents Jane Hearn what NSW Health is thinking, if anything. Also in the pod, we discuss this story about a new star ratings system for new apartment blocks in NSW and try desperately not to be too cynical.And we discover a tiny skerrick of good news for owners in Mascot Towers.TRANSCRIPT IN FULLJimmy 0:00 I've got a bit of a confession to make.Sue 0:01 What?Jimmy 0:03 I think I might have Olympic fever.Sue 0:06 What's Olympic fever, Jimmy?Jimmy 0:08 Well, I started to suspect this, when the figures came out last week for the new number of infections in Sydney. There were 96 and my immediate response was to go "come on, Australia! Come on, Sydney; you can do it!" Which is probably an inappropriate response.Sue 0:28 Absolutely, yes, but the Olympics have been amazing.Jimmy 0:32 Terrific relief from all this doom and gloom, of which there is much.Sue 0:37 It's been fantastic for keeping us occupied during lockdown.Jimmy 0:40 Yes and keeping us thinking about going to the gym, or having a swim or whatever. Today, we will not be talking about the Olympics; we'll be talking about a new scheme that the government's bringing in to have a star rating for new developments. And, we'll be talking about the latest public health orders and how confusing (and confused), they are, when it comes to apartments. And, finally, a tiny little bit of good news for the people in Mascot Towers. I'm Jimmy Thomson. I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review.Sue 1:20 And I'm Sue Williams and I write about property for Domain.Jimmy 1:23 And this is the Flat Chat Wrap.[MUSIC]JimmyThis weekend, we had yet another public health order from New South Wales Health. Once again, apartments seemed to be totally beyond their capacity for thought or concern, because in their bureaucratic gobbledygook (because of pressure from the construction industry), they have now removed all restraints on building work, apart from in the eight local government areas that are in southwest Sydney, that are currently the worst affected by the pandemic. What this means is, on one hand, you've got the Premier, Gladys and the Healt
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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.
