Limbo-laws Could Sell Your Home
In 1975, the Australian government held a referendum seeking our permission to give local councils state powers, where the overwhelming majority of Australia voted "No". Yet somehow, they were given power anyway.
Under these unlawful powers, councils are able to control much more than the daily lives of property owners. To remove undesirables from the neighborhood, councils need do little other than set some impossible task for the property owner and then, upon failure to execute the task, sell the property without consent or compensation.
For example...
In central QLD, an elderly gentleman allowed some homeless people to camp on his property. The council objected to their make-shift kitchen, charged the property owner for a ton of health violations and, upon failure to pay the fines, sold his property without consent.
In Brisbane, council rates inflated rapidly within a very short period of time causing many elderly pensioners and low income families to struggle to pay their rates. Upon failure to pay the rates by said dates and council refusal to extend the dates, all the homes were sold without consent.
In Tasmania, an unemployed IT professional with a knack for vehicle mechanics invited young unemployed people to come to his property to learn how to fix their own vehicles. The council objected to the vehicles parked in the paddock, ordered the local dump to refuse scrap metal from the property owner and then ordered the owner to remove the vehicles. Upon failure to remove the vehicles by said date, the council sold his property without consent.
In Victoria, an elderly property owner who grew fruit and vegetables to share with the homeless watched on helplessly as the council destroyed his produce. He was then fined for a ton of health violations and, upon failure to pay, his property was sold without consent.
In NSW, some parents allowed a crowd of teenagers to camp on their property and to play loud music for the weekend. The parents were charged thousands for holding an illegal event and, upon failure to pay, the council sold the property without consent.
In WA, many indigenous property owners were targeted in a similar manner and had also their properties sold without consent.
In fact, there isn't a state in Australia where councils have not used these unlawful powers to excess - with the full support of the courts and the police.
The fact that it's unlawful doesn't mean we should all stop paying our rates - that much we agree to. What we didn't agree to is giving councils the power to fine us, jail us and sell our homes. And, if at all we did, it would not be without mechanisms in place to appeal, defend ourselves and be properly compensated.
Nor would we approve of any laws that allow the discriminate targeting of vulnerable people in the community, nor the 'council mafia' that stalks, trespasses and threatens victims to scare them into submission.
Unless we force their hand, the government will allow councils to continue using powers that we specifically voted against.
Click here to learn just how much Land Acquisition Law is in a state of adversarial limbo, largely operating on political ideology with no clearly defined ends (ie: not REAL law).