Media release – Latrobe Council, 15 May 2024
SEASONAL WORKER EMERGENCY ORDER JUSTIFIED
The General Manager of the Latrobe Council, Mr Gerald Monson, was pleased his actions to issue an Emergency Order to evacuate 40 seasonal workers from 30 Arthur Street in February 2023 had been justified by the recent decision of the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal(TASCAT). He noted that at the time of issuing this Emergency Order, a previous Emergency Order issued in February 2020 had not been revoked. The 2020 Order had been issued to evacuate over 70 seasonal workers from the same premises.
The reasons for the decision outlined by TASCAT stated that “The most densely populated bedroom was a converted sunroom (which appeared to have been added to the building at some time after its construction) with an approximate floor area of 58 m² which had 18 bunkbeds and a mattress on the floor”. The decision also stated that “the footage (taken by a Council employee) showed that in many of the bedrooms, the seasonal workers had various cooking appliances plugged in close to their bunkbeds. These appliances were often connected to power boards, which in turn were connected to other power boards.”
The manager of the Building Safety Unit at the Tasmanian Fire Service, Mr Andrew McGuinness, advised at the hearing that he had considerable concern regarding the cooking appliances being used in the bedrooms and how they were plugged into the power, especially in bedrooms with bunkbeds where there was an elevated fuel loading from all of the fabric and bedsheets. He noted that the level of risk from fire to the occupants of this building was high and the challenges that would be presented to a volunteer Fire Brigade if tragedy were to strike and the buildings were to set on fire was significant.
Building Surveyor, Mr Wayne Wilson, stated at the hearing that “he considered that the seasonal workers were living in poor and unsafe conditions”.
Mr Monson thanked Council staff for their investigations leading up to the issuing of the Emergency Order and in defending the decisions made.
Mr Monson said that despite what he considered to be intimidation and harassment he had been subjected to by the Baldock family (Insight(Tas) Pty Ltd) and their representative Mr James Redgrave over the last four years, he would have no hesitation to again issue an Emergency Order if he was confronted with the same situation in the future. He said he could not live with his conscience if there had been a fire at the premises and a loss of life. It was noted in the decision that Mr James Redgrave was the caretaker at the property.
Mr Redgrave recently stood for state parliament in the recent elections as a Jacki Lambie network candidate.
Mr Monson said it was of concern that the Council’s cost in defending the decision was over $50,000 and the situation had been made more awkward with Claudia Baldock being a current Councillor.
Statement – Simon Baldock, 14 May 2024
Simon Baldock, director of family company Insight (Tas) Pty Ltd has responded to the criticism of the company and his family by outgoing Latrobe Council GM Gerald Monson
“As a family we are disappointed by the outgoing GM’s parting swipe at us, our business and family integrity. For many years we leased out our spacious house at Shearwater, only to have it knocked out by the Council going straight to an emergency order when we leased it to Pacific workers, bypassing fire upgrade notices or any consultation with us.
The TASCAT decision raises unique questions of law about what an Australian dwelling is, with huge implications for share houses and group housing. The Latrobe Council has pushed the issue further than any other public body since the introduction of national building codes in its pursuit of us. People were made homeless for a building which we say was safe and legitimate according to Australia-wide building codes.
There is nothing magnanimous about the Council position. The evidence introduced during the hearing was that the property was legitimately leased to a group of foreign workers who occupied it as a ‘single occupancy’, rendering the need for further lay evidence on how well they knew one another unnecessary. A series of compounding errors in the Tribunal’s assessment of relevant evidence and the applicable law about single occupancy units and persons being ‘related’ gives us opportunity to appeal.
Claudia and I have learned at great cost that persons who occupy public positions like a General Manager have immense power. As a family we have been burnt by the exercise of such power. The fire threat claimed was on our advice grossly exaggerated. A lead Council witness conceded there was no threat to life.
While we believe in democracy, public accountability, and consultation, it is our family experience that too many like us have to fight for all of these values and at times for our very existence.
We sincerely wish Mr Monson well in his retirement.”
