The residents of the Narrabundah longstay caravan park are meeting with the ACT Council of Social Service tonight to work out where to next, the ABC reports.
Last week the 200 or so residents received eviction notices after the park was sold by Koomarri to then undisclosed owners. This prompted bipartisan outrage from our local pollies.
On Friday I went and talked to Vicki Dunne and Deb Foskey and both had plenty to say about the matter.
UPDATE Deb Foskey has a new release up saying that what happens next with the caravn park residents will reflect on the values held by Canberrans. She also says that new owner Josip Zivko must be aware of the critical shortage of low-cost housing in the ACT due to his various professional roles.
Mrs Dunne basically said if Koomarri had decided they didn’t want the caravan park anymore, then why not give it back to the government considering it had been given to them in the first place (I vaguely recall hearing somewhere they paid the nominal amount of $1 for the land).
Dr Foskey said she suspected the deal had been cooked up between Koomarri and the new owners possibly as far back as November because that was when Dytin Pty Ltd, the new owners, was formed. Also in November, the residents were asked to sign new leases which included clauses that there could be no more than four people per residence and that they couldn’t form any kind of residents’ group. Not all residents signed these leases, which is why some have been asked to leave in August and some in November.
At the time I talked to Dr Foskey she said both the Greens and the government were working on finding out who was behind Dytin Pty Ltd. They must have discovered this later on Friday afternoon because The Canberra Times ran a story on Saturday saying the park had been bought by “prominent Canberra development company” Consolidated Builders Limited. CBL’s managing director is Josip Zivko, who says he was not aware of the residents’ circumstances. However this doesn’t mean he will let them stay where they are, and he has warned that they must not get behind in their rent.
Planning Minister Simon Corbell is still saying he will use his call in powers if needed to prevent and change of land use on the lease.
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