This is very interesting… in NSW the government does throw money at Early Intervention Programs and as part of my job I go into schools, pre-schools and childcare centres and do Protective Behaviours with the kids… the only problem is it is only so effective if it isn't followed up at home. I think it's unrealistic to ask educators to keep increasing what they teach children because what they learn at school HAS to be cemented at home otherwise it's pointless. In pre-school I can spot the children whose parents do the follow up work at home because they are the ones who understand the concepts at the end of the three weeks and they are the ones who remember the concepts when we do follow ups.

My understanding is you can elect anyone to vote as long as you fill out the proxy form.

Our strata managers send us a form to fill out for every meeting but we can also use this form to fill out how we want to vote on what agenda items and post it back to them so we are voting having read the agenda but not being at the meeting. So in essence we do just tell the Strata Manager via a form and cut out the proxy.

Hope this helps

We will sign legal documents to the effect that both the property and the debt are the legal responsibility of my father and his wife – but will this be enough evidence for Centrelink or will they still deem my husband and myself as owners of the unit and responsible for the debt?

I think (and don't quote me on this) but for Centrelink the fact that the property is in your name on the title would mean that they will still consider it as yours. Also, if you sell it/make an income from it then it gets documented as part of your means test. Have you spoken with the social workers at Centrelink or just the counter staff? It also helps to get their responses in writing/email.

If banks are dropping their fixed rates does that mean that they think the RBA will continue to drop the cash rate? 

Derek — what is SANF? Sorry if this is a silly question.

From my understand about Of the Plan purchases… when you sign the contract you agree to that price (e.g. $360k) if in 12-18months time when it is time to settle the property value decreases (e.g. to $300k) you are still locked into the original price of $360k. This is why obtaining finance might be difficult as the bank wouldn't be willing to lend you that amount based on the new lower value. This would mean you would need to come up with the difference…

 Not sure how your situation works but normally the body corporate is there to manage, and maintain the common areas everyone uses like the stairwell, car park, pool etc. There are laws that determine what they can and can’t do and the rules they can set. In my experience it is difficult to get all the owners to agree to something, or to chase up repairs or quotes for things so the body corporate stays on top of that, makes sure the buildings inspections are done and filed with council etc.

If there is no body corporate does that mean you have no sinking fund? What happens if there need to be repairs? Who is in charge of making sure the insurance premiums are paid and holding the paperwork for others to access if necessary?