Page 110 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 8 April 1992
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Narellan House
MR CORNWELL: My question is also addressed to the Minister for Education and Training. It concerns the imminent closure of Narellan House, which TAFE students have been asked to vacate by this Friday, 10 April. I ask Mr Wood: Is it a fact that the eviction notice which was served on 17 March is defective because it cannot give the necessary 28-day warning period under subsection 64(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act for residents of over 18 months' tenancy? Would you therefore stay the eviction request for such tenants?
MR WOOD: I do not think eviction is going to be necessary. It is my understanding - and I have checked it again today, as I have checked it every day recently - that all students will be leaving voluntarily by this Friday. There was a - - -
Mr Cornwell: No. They have been evicted.
MR WOOD: I do not think you have ever disputed the action that we have taken there, have you?
Mr Cornwell: I am disputing the legality of it right now.
MR WOOD: The information I had was that they were advised on 10 March about the closure - - -
Mr Cornwell: Which was found to be defective.
MR WOOD: My date is 10 March, but I will further check whether that was the formal legal notice. Subsequently we did return a notice by name rather than a general overall information about the closure, but again that does not reflect the way this has been handled. We announced last December that the place was going to close, for very good reasons. That was done after the most careful consultation with the people who operate the place and live in the place. It was done after I had numbers of conversations with people in the community who would have an interest in that. So, it was very properly and carefully negotiated at that time.
That pattern has continued since. It is not that we think that we want to go down the path suddenly of plonking a legal notice on the door stating, "You have to get out". Students have been consulted at all times. We have placed officers from TAFE there to negotiate with the students and to say, "Now we will find you a place". It is my understanding that all students who want a place have been found an alternative place. We have been as helpful as we can in the circumstances. We do not like to say to students who have this accommodation, deficient though it is, that they have to go. But that is the fact of life - they need to go.
So, we have negotiated with students. It is not always easy to catch up with students, mind you; but we have negotiated with students. We have found them alternative accommodation at the best possible rates, certainly at average student rates or less - for example, in Sylvia Curley House - and we have facilitated their transfer. In some cases we are prepared to provide a bond where the students simply do not have that little bit of cash that is needed to provide a bond. In other circumstances, if necessary, we will help them shift. So, this has been the way that we have done it.
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