Councillors

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REIWA President David Airey has stepped down from the position after serving the maximum 12 years outlined in REIWA’s constitution.
The announcement was made at REIWA's AGM on Thursday. Two new councillors, Rory Trotter and Suzanne Brown, were elected 
Councillor Ian Cornell, first elected in 2004, also stepped down. 
Mr Airey’s 12 year term on council included four as Institute president. He is the first REIWA president in 97 years to serve a consecutive four-year term.
“This has been wonderful and rewarding experience for me and I leave the Council and Presidency in the hands of talented and experienced people, supported by CEO Neville Pozzi and the excellent REIWA staff,” Mr Airey said. 
“Not only has REIWA’s financial positon strengthened, but it has developed a new smarter, stronger web site for members, increased and improved the range of services provided to members and runs the biggest and best real estate conferences in the country.
“My passion for promoting REIWA in the media is sure to be continued by my successor. It’s through this medium that REIWA’s public perception has improved so markedly. 
“This has not gone unnoticed by the state Government and Opposition with whom we now enjoy a very strong working relationship which includes positions for REIWA on the Property Industry Advisory Board and ongoing dialogue with our industry regulator the Department of Commerce. 
“My only disappointment is that I've not been able to bring about the boom property conditions the eastern states continue to enjoy. I would have just been happy with some strong market improvement! I'm sure that’s just around the corner. 
The REIWA Council will now include:
<ul>
<li>Suzanne Brown(Rentwest)[Newly elected]
</li>
<li>Damian Collins(Momentum Wealth) </li>
<li>Hayden Groves(Dethridge Groves)</li>
<li>Sarah Kinsey(Ray White UXCEL)</li>
<li>Peter Lawrance(Avanti Residential)[Re-elected]
</li>
<li>Brett Thorp(Thorp Realty) </li>
<li>Rory Trotter(Force Real Estate)[Newly elected]
</li>
<li>Kris Tully(Tully First National)[Re-elected]
</li>
<li>Joe White(JMW Real Estate)</li>
</ul>
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David Airey steps down as REIWA President

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GUEST OBSERVER
The New South Wales State Government’s decision to disallow those with a pecuniary interest to vote on council matters is a good first step but more needs to be done to depoliticise council planning decisions. 
Any number of councillors could be considered to have ‘pecuniary interests’. In reality, who doesn’t have a pecuniary interest in decisions about development approvals in a local area? What about the councillors that are keen to stop growth and reduce the supply of housing and see their own property values rise on the back of this – is this not a pecuniary interest in a decision? 
To support the reversal of the Act amendment; Independent Hearings and Assessment Panels, made up of experts that are truly independent, should be engaged to review the decisions of planners within councils. 
The whole planning system needs to be depoliticised and quickly. Identifying pecuniary interest is so fraught we should consider leaving it to the experts,” he said. 
Councils spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually to employ urban planners to process approvals and prepare strategic development controls, and too often the decisions of these staff are overturned by councils that have a political agenda. 
The good thing about this debate is it could lead to sensible policy approaches. 
The most sensible approach is to let anyone that is a fit and proper person become a local councillor – including those with an understanding of real estate and planning controls – and take the politics out of planning by introducing independent panels to properly consider development applications. 
Only then will we get a fair system that looks after the communities’ long term interests and takes the politics out of planning.
 
Stephen Albin is chief executive of Urban Development Institute of Australia and can be contacted <a href="https://www.udia.com.au/index.htm" target="_blank">here</a>.
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