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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
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LADY KINTORE COTTAGES (TRUST PROPERTY) AMENDMENT BILL

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Minister for Housing and Urban Development) (15:52): On behalf of the Attorney-General, obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Lady Kintore Cottages Act 1920. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Minister for Mineral Resources and Energy, Minister for Housing and Urban Development) (15:53): On behalf of the Attorney-General, I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading explanation inserted in Hansard without my reading it.

Leave granted.

The Lady Kintore Cottages Act 1920 (the Act) was enacted to enable the transfer of certain real property and moneys held by the Lady Kintore Cottages Incorporated to the Adelaide Benevolent Strangers' Friend Society Inc ('the Society').

Up until that time, Lady Kintore Cottages Inc had been the subject of a Declaration of Trust dated 20 December 1894. At the time, the trust provided for an elected committee which was empowered to determine the application of trust property for the purposes of providing accommodation to 'indigent widows and deserted wives and their families'.

For various technical reasons it became impracticable for this to continue, and so the Act was passed in 1920. The effect of the Act was to transfer all trust funds and real property to the Society. Section 3(1) of the Act provided that these were to be held by the Society upon the same charitable purposes as the terms of the original trust and for no other purposes.

The original Lady Kintore properties which vested in the Society at the commencement of the Act were sold in 1990 to the SA Housing Trust. The Society has since purchased and developed other properties with the sale proceeds. Currently, six properties are held on trust under the Lady Kintore Cottages Act. This represents a fairly small proportion of the Society's overall property portfolio, which is comprised of around 130 properties in total.

The Society is a not for profit incorporated association, whose objects and purpose are to receive gifts of cash and kind and to administer relief to the sick or disadvantaged within South Australia. A further object is to provide affordable housing and other assistance in necessitous and deserving cases to people in South Australia including new immigrants.

The objects and purpose of the Society are broader than those under the Lady Kintore Trust. The Bill aims to recognise these wider objects purposes. The Society's objects are 'to receive gifts of cash and kind and to administer relief to the sick and/or disadvantaged within South Australia'. The aim of the trust was to hold such real property and moneys on trust for the purpose of providing homes for indigent widows and deserted wives and their families in the State. The Society states that it has been determining applications for accommodation for the trust properties on the basis of the necessity in accordance with its objects, namely 'relief to the sick or disadvantaged within South Australia'. It considers that it would be more appropriate that the property and moneys held on trust under the Act be used in accordance with the broader objectives of the Society, rather than restricting this to 'indigent widows and deserted wives and their families'. This is what clause 4 of the Bill intends to do.

The Society base their policy on providing affordable accommodation to people on lower incomes. In 90 per cent of cases this means people who are receiving Centrelink benefits such as the aged pension, disability pension, family assistance or Newstart. Some applicants participate in part time work. The income limit is around $40,000 per annum. This allows for tenants to move into one of the Society's properties on Newstart, gain employment and then start earning a wage.

The tenants are generally referred to the Society by agencies including, Adelaide Day Centre, Catherine House, Hutt St Centre, Towards Independence (Salvation Army) and the Southern and Western Domestic Violence Services.

To administer the terms of the Lady Kintore trust has given rise to practical difficulties. For example, even if prospective tenants for a house or unit were screened, so that tenancies were only offered to a woman who met the description of 'deserted wife with children', it would be difficult in practical terms for the trustee to monitor that person's ongoing relationship status.

Further, in order to monitor the relationship status, the tenant would be required to volunteer such information as circumstances changed, with the potential for a tenancy to be terminated upon the happening of a defined event, such as commencing cohabitation with another adult, or if her children left home. As well as being administratively cumbersome, the Government's view is that this would be unreasonable and oppressive. Also, in order to provide for such contingency the lease would have to contain a term which allowed the trustee to terminate the lease should such a defined event occur.

It is considered appropriate to amend the Lady Kintore Cottages Act, so as to bring its objects into line with those of the Society more generally. Further, the current situation effectively requires the Society to quarantine properties from its much larger pool, in order to give effect to a narrower purpose as currently set out in the original Act. This would appear to be difficult from an administrative perspective.

Although there may well be a number of women in society who may in a technical sense fit the description of 'indigent widow' or 'deserted wife', these are undoubtedly antiquated terms. The original objects of the trust need to be considered against the background of the social norms and stigmas as well as a paucity of Government social services available to assist such persons at that time. Notably, since the trust was founded, there have been significant developments in the area of government welfare payments, as well as a cultural shift in attitudes towards women who are without male partners.

The Bill also introduces a new clause to recognise that the Adelaide Benevolent and Strangers' Friend Society may wish to transfer its undertaking to a company limited by guarantee structure sometime in the future.

I commend the Bill to Members.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

2—Commencement

3—Amendment provisions

These clauses are formal.

Part 2—Amendment of Lady Kintore Cottages Act 1920

4—Amendment of section 3—Trusts of property

Currently, the Act provides that the assets held by the Society on trust are to be used for the purpose of 'providing homes for indigent widows and deserted wives and their families in this State, and for no other purpose.' The amendment expands that purpose to 'administering relief and providing affordable housing and other assistance to sick or disadvantaged people in the State' (and things or activities necessary, incidental or conducive to the advancement of such a purpose).

5—Insertion of section 7

This clause proposes the insertion of new section 7

7—Change in corporate structure of Society—references

Proposed section 7 is an interpretive provision dealing with references to the Society in the Act and subordinate instruments in the event that the Society becomes registered as a company limited by guarantee under the Corporations Act 2001 of the Commonwealth, or transfers the whole of its assets and undertaking to such a company.

Schedule 1—Transitional provisions

Schedule 1 validates certain acts of the Society done prior to the commencement of the Lady Kintore Cottages (Trust Property) Amendment Act 2013 and provides for immunity from liability for the Society in relation to such acts.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Pederick.

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