The Lake Ginninderra teepee is a protest against UC student accommodations

CLV are criminals and should have been made accountable a long time ago. Although I wouldn’t have gone to the extent of building a teepee, good on him none the less.

As a current resident I’ve been subject to a number of breaches of my tenancy contract by CLV. I think most people forget that as residents, we’re subject to the exact same conditions that normal tenants are subject to living off res. We pay bond, sign tenancy agreements and are subject to inspections. Unfortunately CLV don’t seem to extend to us the same rights that normal residential tenants are offered. Here are a couple of things which I have found most disturbing over the last 6 months living on campus:

-Staff entering my room without permission and removing items such as spare keys without consent.
-A toilet broken for more then 4 weeks. Multiple complaints lodged only to be told by the maintenance manager to have a bit more patience (no offer of recompence by CLV).
-Thick mold growing throughout the showers – fixed with a coat of paint after mutiple complaints.
-Charged for steam cleaning and general cleaning of property which did not occur (previous tenants also charged for the same)
-Damage to car in carpark (no security cameras installed around carpark)
-Door to property damaged whilst residents were out. Residents charged $900 for repairs as we couldn’t prove who damaged the door.
-Barely any security. I’ve stayed on multiple campuses around the country and UC by far has the worst security. No fences, open access to car park, 1 security guard at night.

get back to class

rosscoact said :

Arts major who is striving for relevancy. Good on you, it should be compulsory.

Too good for Arts, should be doing Engineering. Oh I forgot, UC got rid of its real Engineering courses…

yellowredme said :

UVC charges like a wounded bull. On top of rent utilities are currently $23 per week (gas, water, electricity), washing machines/dryers are $3 a load (No BYO washing machines), you are charged for a PO box if you want to receive post there, internet/phone in your room is quite expensive, but thankfully mobile technology gets around that charge. You can pay rent for 18 weeks of a semester, but if you do it this way you are not guaranteed a room when you return for Semester 2 (there are three semesters, S1, Winter Semester and S2), therefore you really need to pay for all three semesters, which is 45 weeks rent to have guaranteed accommodation, this is quite unfortunate as Winter Semester units are quite sparse at UC.

From memory, if your post-lease cleaning isnt up to scratch the charge is something like $38 per hour for cleaning. Prevoiusly basic weekly cleaning was included in accommodation costs. Lodging an application to rent there is a non-refundable $50 if you are unsuccessful, if successful you get half of the fee back when you leave.

I started at UC the year CLV took over ressies, 2008. At the time the newer on-campus accommodation had not been built, every bed was booked out far in advance and UCV increased campus accommodaton rates by a phenomenal amount.

Needless to say I lived off campus where there was also an accommodation shortage, so some very dodgy digs were on offer.

So I do think UCV are pretty greedy’ they know they have the market cornered. Not easy for some kids without the Govt/parents funding their education, not every degree at UC guarantees a big bucks career, for example Nursing. Good on you William Woodridge!

They also get a grant of around $8000 per student from the Govt. for providing student accommodation.

Arts major who is striving for relevancy. Good on you, it should be compulsory.

spinact said :

JessP said :

SO how does he handles his….hmmmmm ablutions?

ANd how does he power the flat screen TV in the other link or is that just for show?

It looks to me like the red arrow in the photo above is pointing to his very own piss-a-phone so I guess he’s floating on his own toilet bowl.

Hehe, my image so let me explain- I added the red arrow with the caption “potential vegie garden?” on google+. It seems to be a pot sitting in a milk crate, I’m wondering if he is going all out in his hippie adventure and have a vegie garden? He wouldn’t have a problem fertilising it or watering it. And I’m told peeing on tomato plants can be very beneficial…

Skidbladnir said :

By my reckoning, his potential fines just under the Lakes Act 1976:
50x penalty units for anchoring a boat on a lake at night, unless he wants (or gets a friend) to go ‘hand held rod and line’ fishing whenever he anchors (Section 24, strict liability).
50x penalty units for mooring a boat without a permit (Section 25, strict liability).
30x penalty units for using a boat as a houseboat (Section 31, strict liability).
10x penalty units for failure to correctly light a boat (Sect 37, strict liability).
30x penalty units for lack of emergency lighting on boat to replace required lighting (Sect 40, strict liability).
Plus court-ordered costs associated with ACT Govt recovering any cost of boat removal, should he choose not to do so himself when requested by a government inspector.

My attention has been dragged to
1) He’s living-on-board his transportation, and according to some cursory Facebook stalking has easy access to The Lighthouse, so also worth considering is Lakes Act 1976 Section 50: Navigation of boat while intoxicated… (1) A person must not operate a boat on a lake while under the influence of intoxicating liquor.
Maximum penalty: 50 penalty units, strict liability.
IE: No booze while he’s Bill the Boatman, friends don’t let friends go boating unless stone-cold sober.

2) Two of the above offences have infringement penalties available under the Magistrates Court (Lakes Infringement Notices) Regulation 2004, should an authorised officer wish to avoid court prosecution for Moor Without Permit S25(3), and Failure to Show Light as Required S37(1).
They have the option to issue $550 and $110 infringements respectively against these offences at the Delegate for Lakes’ discretion.
The Delegate for Lakes currently seems to be Mr David Power courtesy of <a href = "this notifiable instrument.
However not all Lakes Act 1976 offences have this option (such as the remainder of the above).

I’m not trying to rain on Bill’s parade for his protest or discourage raising awareness of the plight of students needing accommodation, but unless Bill has some kind of support-fund for impending legal bills (in which case maybe you could get off the Lake and put the cash towards accomodation, Bill…) I suspect he missed out on the vital “Is it legal – what are the consequences” advice before starting a high-profile, one man, financially-liable-for-his-own-decisions protest involving ACT Government.
Defaulting on court-ordered fines (such as without an agreed payment plan) can land offenders behind bars for 1 day per outstanding $100 under a Warrant of Commitment.

PS: Don’t rely solely on the advice of strangers in online forums; they’re probably not lawyers. I have no legal qualification, am not a member of the ACT Government in any capacity, and further also have no understanding of how paying infringement notices for any single or multiple offences would affect liability for any other remaining related offences should they appear before the Court.
Also, fighting the ACT bureaucracy via the Courts is no fun at all.

I asked a TAMS person tonight at the BCC meeting (to do with recreational Uses of Lake Ginninderra) about the teepee pontoon. Apparently he has a a portaloo etc. They have been ‘liaising’ with him.

Excellent work.
Original. Daring. Top workmanship.

Good way to brighten up a resume otherwise blighted by having “UC” listed on it.

Move into a sharehouse and enrol in a real Uni – you’re obviously way too good for that dump.

Is this one of those bull$hit beatup stories where there’s no story but some lame marketing ploy to sell some product?!

It better not be or I’m setting that thing on fire!

JessP said :

SO how does he handles his….hmmmmm ablutions?

ANd how does he power the flat screen TV in the other link or is that just for show?

It looks to me like the red arrow in the photo above is pointing to his very own piss-a-phone so I guess he’s floating on his own toilet bowl.

Skidbladnir said :

Quote from the Jason Who tumblr:
[William Woodridge] chose…because he refused to live under a money orientated organisation with very little thoughts on their customers…a floating teepee…where he could live rent free and not have to worry about the bureaucratic nonsense involved in living under the direction of CLV…

If he wanted to stop dealing with a faceless, money-loving bureaucracy, and instead chose to shelter under the protective aegis of the ACT Government?

By my reckoning, his potential fines just under the Lakes Act 1976:
50x penalty units for anchoring a boat on a lake at night, unless he wants (or gets a friend) to go ‘hand held rod and line’ fishing whenever he anchors (Section 24, strict liability).
50x penalty units for mooring a boat without a permit (Section 25, strict liability).
30x penalty units for using a boat as a houseboat (Section 31, strict liability).
10x penalty units for failure to correctly light a boat (Sect 37, strict liability).
30x penalty units for lack of emergency lighting on boat to replace required lighting (Sect 40, strict liability).
Plus court-ordered costs associated with ACT Govt recovering any cost of boat removal, should he choose not to do so himself when requested by a government inspector.

A personal penalty unit current equates to $110 so potentially ~$19,000, equal to about 18 months uni accomodation or sharehouse rent, without even trying?

Hargreaves will be onto this in a flash.

Surely?

Only if it scares his cat.

UVC charges like a wounded bull. On top of rent utilities are currently $23 per week (gas, water, electricity), washing machines/dryers are $3 a load (No BYO washing machines), you are charged for a PO box if you want to receive post there, internet/phone in your room is quite expensive, but thankfully mobile technology gets around that charge. You can pay rent for 18 weeks of a semester, but if you do it this way you are not guaranteed a room when you return for Semester 2 (there are three semesters, S1, Winter Semester and S2), therefore you really need to pay for all three semesters, which is 45 weeks rent to have guaranteed accommodation, this is quite unfortunate as Winter Semester units are quite sparse at UC.

From memory, if your post-lease cleaning isnt up to scratch the charge is something like $38 per hour for cleaning. Prevoiusly basic weekly cleaning was included in accommodation costs. Lodging an application to rent there is a non-refundable $50 if you are unsuccessful, if successful you get half of the fee back when you leave.

I started at UC the year CLV took over ressies, 2008. At the time the newer on-campus accommodation had not been built, every bed was booked out far in advance and UCV increased campus accommodaton rates by a phenomenal amount. Needless to say I lived off campus where there was also an accommodation shortage, so some very dodgy digs were on offer.

So I do think UCV are pretty greedy’ they know they have the market cornered. Not easy for some kids without the Govt/parents funding their education, not every degree at UC guarantees a big bucks career, for example Nursing. Good on you William Woodridge!

Bill you have had your 15 minutes of fame & made your point in a very innovative way. Housing affordability is not being addressed, but bogged down in bureaucratic committees. If you move to a caravan park you will find you have no legal rights. Architecture in the real world involves demolition & removal of people and existing residences. The squattocracy when they gained power were quick to outlaw squatters.
In your case I don’t think you will be a target for submariners. Expect an early morning visit from the water police who may want to advise you about the law & regulations as Skid has explained.

If you had a possum on board things could get more complicated.

good on him, fantastic idea.

Erg0 said :

arescarti42 said :

bd84 said :

Or that someone else should to pay the bill for his carelessness when his cooking set off the fire alarm?

Would you like to explain to us how setting off a smoke alarm inflicts $380 worth of costs on CLV, for which they need to be reimbursed?

ACT Fire Service callout fee, perhaps?

No idea how much it is, but $380 doesn’t sound outrageous. I’ve lived in plenty of places where such charges for false alarms have been part of the rental agreement.

Probably. But I’d point out that some of these places are terribly designed and you really can’t blame students when it’s a systemic problem.

Case in point was the first Unilodge that was built at ANU.
When it was first built and occupied, the fire alarm was going off multiple times a day, with a callout from the fire department each time. Over the course of the year and after attempts to fix problems, it ended up averaging about once a day for all of 2007. You can’t seriously blame the students for stuff like that.

-the fans in the kitchens were totally ineffective, all they did was blow air/smoke around.
-windows couldn’t be opened properly, no idea why but they could only be opened a couple of inches, which made it nearly impossible to clear the room.
-if smoke hit the detectors in the hallways, they’d trigger an evacuation alarm and call the fire brigade.

So if someone opened the door to the hallway once there’d been even a minor cooking miss-hap, the building alarm would go. I have a feeling that it was possible for room alarms to trigger evacuation when the building was first opened and that this was changed eventually, but I can’t confirm.

What did keep happening later on though was that people would panic after burning something when their room/apartment alarms went off because they knew the fire alarms would go off easily and often end up setting off the hall detectors by opening doors/windows to clear the room. There really wasn’t enough (any) instruction given on what to do in the case of burning something.

I would hate to pay $380 every time my smoke alarm went off . It’s that sensitive it goes off while cooking toast.

chewy14 said :

He does realise that he doesn’t have to live on campus right?

As a landlord, I’d like to point out that it’s not always the simplest thing to organise share house accomodation, especially as its a guy. Groups of girls are assumed (rightly or wrongly) to be cleaner.

VYBerlinaV8_is_back said :

My experience of uni was that people like this don’t usually have many classes to go to anyway. When I was at UC I remember some people having 9 contact hours a week – and considered themselves full time!

Even then it’s not like you have to turn up for your contact hours to get a pass. Or even a HD.

Vote with your feet uni-dude.

I wonder if that thing’s been christened yet?

How does a poor and struggling uni student afford to build a raft and tepee? Is there a bit of stolen property involved that could potentially add to the list of other offences?

So, he is protesting against having to support himself?

And people wonder why I always say “we need more freedom and responsibility“.

http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/share-residential

p1 said :

Although, unless he had quit all his classes for this protest, he is relying on the government not removing his illegal campsite while he is on campus during the day.

My experience of uni was that people like this don’t usually have many classes to go to anyway. When I was at UC I remember some people having 9 contact hours a week – and considered themselves full time!

Yo Bill, don’t give up. I rate your teepee/pontoon.

Jivrashia said :

Into The Wild, Canberran style.

No prep, no plan, no backup, no chance?

JessP said :

ANd how does he power the flat screen TV in the other link or is that just for show?

The article mentions that he uses a generator which he stores in a locked box…

I wonder if CUB know he cut one of their kegs in half?

Quote from the Jason Who tumblr:
[William Woodridge] chose…because he refused to live under a money orientated organisation with very little thoughts on their customers…a floating teepee…where he could live rent free and not have to worry about the bureaucratic nonsense involved in living under the direction of CLV…

If he wanted to stop dealing with a faceless, money-loving bureaucracy, and instead chose to shelter under the protective aegis of the ACT Government?

By my reckoning, his potential fines just under the Lakes Act 1976:
50x penalty units for anchoring a boat on a lake at night, unless he wants (or gets a friend) to go ‘hand held rod and line’ fishing whenever he anchors (Section 24, strict liability).
50x penalty units for mooring a boat without a permit (Section 25, strict liability).
30x penalty units for using a boat as a houseboat (Section 31, strict liability).
10x penalty units for failure to correctly light a boat (Sect 37, strict liability).
30x penalty units for lack of emergency lighting on boat to replace required lighting (Sect 40, strict liability).
Plus court-ordered costs associated with ACT Govt recovering any cost of boat removal, should he choose not to do so himself when requested by a government inspector.

A personal penalty unit current equates to $110 so potentially ~$19,000, equal to about 18 months uni accomodation or sharehouse rent, without even trying?

Into The Wild, Canberran style.

Hats off to this brave lad.

SO how does he handles his….hmmmmm ablutions?

ANd how does he power the flat screen TV in the other link or is that just for show?

EvanJames said :

hmmm. Except the Indians usually do the top a bit differently, so there’s a hole for the fire smoke but it stops the rain.

No wonder he set off the fire alarm.

This is pure awsomeness.
Can someone tell him that he needs to get some solar panels!

arescarti42 said :

bd84 said :

Or that someone else should to pay the bill for his carelessness when his cooking set off the fire alarm?

Would you like to explain to us how setting off a smoke alarm inflicts $380 worth of costs on CLV, for which they need to be reimbursed?

ACT Fire Service callout fee, perhaps?

No idea how much it is, but $380 doesn’t sound outrageous. I’ve lived in plenty of places where such charges for false alarms have been part of the rental agreement.

Good for him. It’s a fairly impressive looking structure, too.

bd84 said :

Or that someone else should to pay the bill for his carelessness when his cooking set off the fire alarm?

Would you like to explain to us how setting off a smoke alarm inflicts $380 worth of costs on CLV, for which they need to be reimbursed?

When I built a raft on the lake, put a tent on it and camped there, I was told by the powers that be in the ACT local council Government that the lake fell under exactly the same laws as the parks and stuff around them, and so camping on it was only allowed with permission, as part of some approved activity or event. It was very easy to get such approval for a few days, but I am assuming that he is simply squatting there?

Nice idea though, one of those low key protests that more and more people slowly notice. Although, unless he had quit all his classes for this protest, he is relying on the government not removing his illegal campsite while he is on campus during the day.

So he thinks that the price of the accommodation would not have increased anyway to pay for the cost of refurbishing his accommodation? Or that someone else should to pay the bill for his carelessness when his cooking set off the fire alarm? This kid needs to pull his head out and join the real world. But hey, if he wants to live in a teepee, that’s fine with me.

What’s he going to do when winter comes around?

It’s one Keg?Barrel sliced in half for shelving purposes.

He does realise that he doesn’t have to live on campus right?

hmmm. Except the Indians usually do the top a bit differently, so there’s a hole for the fire smoke but it stops the rain.

He designed that teepee? That is a very, very good teepee. I’ve seen some in the US and Canada, and I’m thinking he must have, too.

Um. I wonder if those kegs contain anything?

What a brilliant protest.

This CLV sounds like a real piece of work. US should be ashamed with the rise in costs to its students for on campus accomidation.