Inquiry Into Residential Electrification – OCN Supplementary Submission
13 MARCH 2024 OCN made a supplementary submission to the Senate Economics References Committee, to clarify testimony regarding incentivising both individual owners and owners corporations. Read Submission:> OCN Supplementary Submission - Senate Economics References Committee Questions VI Original Submission 28/9/23:> OCN Submission - Australian Senate Economics Reference Committee Inquiry into Residential Electrification 230928 Opening Remarks for Testimony 21/2/24:>OCN Appearance - Senate Economics References Committee Inquiry into Residential Electrification Opening Comments [...]
NSW Review of Short & Long Term Accommodation
06 MARCH 2024 OCN made a submission making the following recommendations: Allow access to the Register by an Owners Corporation. Expand the scope of the Code of Conduct to address a greater remit of identified concerns to neighbours, other lot Owners, and Owners Corporations. Authorise council inspectors to inspect residential premises suspected of being used for short-term letting. Allow councils to ban short-term letting through development application. Ensure that any [...]
NSW Consumer Energy Strategy 2024
OCN made a submission calling for a clear focus on strata titled dwellings as well as stand-alone housing. Read submission:> OCN submission - NSW Consumer Energy Strategy 2024 February 2024
Review of the Australian Energy Regulator exemptions framework for embedded networks
5 FEBRUARY 2024 OCN made a submission to the federal regulator of embedded networks, calling for strict controls on developer-initiated embedded networks that only profit the developer, and cause harm to owners and residents. Read submission:> OCN Submission - AER Review of Exemptions Framework for Embedded Networks 240205
NSW Fire Safety Reforms
23 JANUARY 2024 OCN made a submission on the proposed reforms to fire safety regulations in NSW. Read submission:> OCN Submission - Fire Safety Reforms January 2024 Related content:> https://ocn.org.au/product/fire-safety-by-law-proforma/
IPART Review of Embedded Networks in NSW
OCN made a submission on the protections needed for strata owners and tenants where developers install an embedded network. Read submission:>OCN Submission - IPART Draft Report on Embedded Networks January 2024 Related content:> https://ocn.org.au/inquiry-into-embedded-networks-in-nsw/
Australian Consumer Law & Owners Corporations
22 JANUARY 2024 OCN wrote to Federal, State and Territory Consumer Affairs Ministers, asking them to identify and address gaps in the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) insofar as they apply to owners corporations. Gaps in the ACL leave owners corporations, lot owners and tenants at a significant disadvantage in their dealings with businesses, including developers and strata/owners corporation managers. The ACL provides that unfair terms of a consumer or a [...]
OCN attends ‘Round Table’ consultation on NSW fire safety regulation reform
Roundtable consultation on fire safety regulation reform 12 Dec 2023 - Better Regulation Division, NSW Department of Customer Service OCN represented owners' views at the December 2023 first stage of consultation on fire safety reforms, covering the design of fire safety systems. The roundtable canvassed several survey questions. Several questions were posed where OCN felt the owners' point of view would be of value. Many technical questions were left to [...]
Protecting Consumers From Unfair Trade Practices
29 NOVEMBER 2023OCN was proud to sign onto the Consumer Policy Research Centre joint consumer submission on unfair trade practices - Make Unfair Illegal. There are a range of practices that cause consumer harm, and are detrimental to the competitive process, that are not currently unlawful. In the strata world these include embedded networks and obfuscation around insurance premiums. It's time to level the playing field! Read full submission:> https://cprc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Submission-Unfair-trade-practices-Treasury-November-2023.pdf Related content:> https://ocn.org.au/inquiry-into-embedded-networks-in-nsw-ocn-testimony/ Related [...]
NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Batteries
24 NOVEMBER 2023 The perception that Electric vehicles create a significant new risk from a fire safety standpoint has some history and has been widely covered in the media. The ACCC undertook an investigation recently into Lithium-Ion battery safety, which OCN supports: https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Lithium-ion%20Batteries%20report_3_0.pdf There are several perspectives to this issue worth exploring, which have a bearing on the nature of the risks, and the appropriate responses from government. OCN’s response [...]
Mandating Latent Defects Insurance
OCN made a brief submission supporting the mandating of latent defects insurance. Read submission:> OCN Submission - Mandating Latent Defects Insurance October 2023
Senate Inquiry into Residential Electrification
OCN made a submission on the need to support the residential strata sector, which is lagging behind other household types in the clean energy transition. We recommended that the Committee: see Owners Corporations and Strata Committees as partners with Government; develop a coherent national strategy for the residential strata sector; adopt measures tailored to the strata environment.
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