Why can't people in this remote Australian community own their houses? | ABC Australia
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 11. 04. 2024
- Forty years ago, a remote island community in the Indian Ocean voted to become a fully-fledged part of Australia. Malay workers on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands were promised equal rights to mainland Australians, but they say they're still waiting.
Video by Alice Angeloni.
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My worry is that changing to an "Australian" system of Freehold Land Titles will just enable a handful of millionaires and billionaires from overseas to just swoop in there and buy up so many houses and so much land that their community will be dispossessed and ruined.
Eventually being forced off the island entirely, or allowed to stay only as tenants of overseas landlords. An imperfect example, could be how London has a shortage of affordable houses and land, while certain world billionaires like Arab Sheiks, own entire buildings which sit empty 50 weeks of the year, awaiting their next shopping trip to Harrod's.
If the land title system is changed PLEASE ensure that it isn't just a backdoor way of dispossessing the locals of their land and homes.
Where was it ? (Perhaps Vanuatu ?). that introducing a new land title system, was poorly designed and executed, ended up causing not just individuals but entire villages to lose their communal growing lands upon which they absolutely depended. The new, mostly American corporation owners are thrilled. The locals left devastated but told that in 70 years, they can reclaim their lands then.
That should be easy to fix; just convert the land to individual freehold titles subject to the trust and amend the trust to allow tenants to purchase the freehold title of the premises they occupy, subject only to certain conditions, such as a minimum number of years tenancy. If a tenant purchases their freehold and sells, well, thats just the same right that every other Australian has. Without that right, the islanders are effectively economic prisoners on the islands.
No doubt this is being run through all sorts of bureaucracy and none of the bureaucrats wants to take responsibility for it - no government person ever got in trouble for a decision they didnât make. Which is despicable, really. People in power in this country have just lost their way, and any sense of getting right things done.
The government is spending $176 million this year for a population of 1000. $176,000 for each person.
So saying - Yes they should and probably are allowed to buy houses.
They will have to be careful here, having spent some time on the islands. While I agree that the locals on Home Island should be able to purchase their own home, I wouldn't want potential Air B n B's to get bought out by mainlanders. That would drive prices and rents up to the point where the homes would all be owned by investors and/or retirees. The lifestyle is so idyllic it would be a Real Estate agent's wet dream to market. Then you would have truly dispossessed the local Cocos Malays anyway.
At the moment it is not perfect, but at least it's relatively sustainable and Air B n B proof.
The situation you're describing is quite poignant. The Cocos (Keeling) Islands' history is complex, marked by colonialism and shifting governance.
That's your government for ya