How has apartment living in Australia changed in the past four years? The answer is a lot, but still too little.This week, we celebrate our 200th column in the Australian Financial Review (and our 820th in all media).And at the risk of being accused of self-congratulation, it’s a good opportunity to look back on what has changed and what hasn’t in the past four years and beyond.It has to be said that progress has been slow and occasionally faltering, as we look at all the “hot” issues, such as dodgy building developers, the NSW Building Commissioner, pet by-laws, flammable cladding, short-term lets, sunset “clawbacks” and anything else that’s made headlines here and elsewhere in the recent past.LISTEN HEREWe also dive into the question of what represents a higher risk to apartment residents – allowing cleaners from West and South-West Sydney Covid-19 hotspots to travel, or not having the touch points in apartment block common areas professionally cleaned?With more than 70 per cent of Sydney’s cleaners living in the “hard lock-down” areas, this is a dilemma that faces a lot of apartment blocks.Needless to say, we both have solutions that will infuriate some and amuse others. It’s all in this week’s Flat Chat Wrap.TRANSCRIPT IN FULLJimmy 00:00It's a bit of a landmark for Flat Chat, this weekend.Sue 00:03Yeah?Jimmy 00:04 I just published the 200th edition of the column, in the Fin review.Sue 00:11Oh wow! Well done!Jimmy 00:12Thank you. So, we'll be talking about that and the changes that have happened in the past four years. And, we'll be talking about the dilemma over cleaners from the lockdown hotspot LGA's in the west and southwest of Sydney. I'm Jimmy Thomson, I write the Flat Chat column for the Australian Financial Review.Sue 00:34And I'm Sue Williams and I write about property for Domain.Jimmy 00:37And this is the Flat Chat Wrap.[MUSIC]Sue 00:52Well, happy anniversary, Jimmy. Gosh, that's gone quickly; four years!Jimmy 00:56Four years, 200 columns. But, that's only 200 in the Fin Review.Sue 01:02That's right. Before that you were in the Sydney Morning Herald. How many years were you doing that?Jimmy 01:07Well, 620 columns.Sue 01:12Wow!Jimmy 01:14That breaks down to what; about 12/13 years?Sue 01:17Goodness me and you still don't seem to run out of things to write about.Jimmy 01:21No. I haven't repeated myself that often. I mean, we do go back and update certain topics, obviously, because things do change.Sue 01:29And all your columns, are they all on the Flat Chat website?Jimmy 01:32Most of them are. That's why we in fact, we started the Flat Chat website, to have a kind of repository for all the columns. And you know, I wouldn't dig too far back, if you're looking for information, because the laws have changed. But, I was amazed to find that all my previous columns are still online, for the Fin Review.Sue 01:56Oh, fantastic. And tell me, have things changed enormously in the last four years?Jimmy 02:02Some things have changed enormously; some things have not changed at all.Sue 02:06Okay, shall we look at the good news first?Jimmy 02:09Well, I think the biggest news (certainly in New South Wales), is the appointment of the Building Comm
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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.
