‘Innocent victims’: Businessman breaks silence on resort crisis
THE director of two companies which control utilities for Couran Cove Island Resort has broken his silence on the saga, three weeks after dozens of residents had their electricity and water cut off.
Sydney businessman Simon Napoli said he expressed support for an independent inquiry into issues at Couran Cove during a meeting with Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman last week.
Long-running issues plaguing the South Stradbroke Island community came to a head almost three weeks ago, when electricity and water were disconnected to dozens of homes in Couran Cove amid allegations of unpaid body corporate fees.
There are five body corporates involved on the island, with complex court proceedings playing out over the alleged unpaid fees.
Mr Napoli said he discussed further reforms to body corporate laws and the ongoing litigation during last week’s meeting.
Residents on the island without electricity and water maintain they have paid their body corporate fees, but Mr Napoli claims some body corporates have not paid the bills for these essential services.
“The resort infrastructure operator is continuing to work with the Queensland government, Gold Coast City Council and local agencies, to not only provide support to many of the affected residents, but also deliver suggestions on how to resolve significant infighting between body corporates which has plagued Couran Cove for years and recently seen some millions of dollars of owner’s money diverted to litigation costs,” Mr Napoli said.
“The company understands the frustration and pain of the residents, who we believe are being unfairly inconvenienced despite many of them having paid their body corporate levies which are levied to pay for essential services and meant to be passed on by their Strata Committee to cover the cost of those essential services.”
Mr Napoli said the bills for those essential services remained unpaid.
“The company believes these residents are the innocent victims of a difficult and unpleasant situation, which could – and should – have been avoided if their body corporates had simply just paid for the services and not left them outstanding for so long,” he said.
“The issue between the body corporates is a complex situation, and that’s precisely the reason why it is so significant for the infrastructure operator to engage in the process of dialogue with government right now, and do as much as possible to limit the disruption to residents and staff.”
Mr Napoli said 120 dwellings of the 360 at Couran Cove were still without power and water services as of Tuesday.
Ms Fentiman said the government would “explore all options available” to ensure a “long-term solution” at the resort.