My name is Jimmy Xueshan Jia, and I am nominating as an ordinary member of the Body Corporate Committee. I am a semi-retired chartered professional engineer with 38 years of experience in the water, oil, gas, corrosion protection, and clean energy industries.
I have lived at Southport Central for nearly ten years, and during this time I have become increasingly concerned about several issues affecting our community: the lack of financial transparency in the use of owners’ funds, questionable practices in the collection of votes during body corporate elections, and the management of building maintenance following the committee’s decision to stop obtaining official sinking fund forecasts to guide our maintenance planning.
Over the past eight years, I have repeatedly raised concerns about the wasteful use of owners’ funds on various legal pursuits. During the same period, I have requested a full inspection of AGM voting papers on four separate occasions after claims of voting paper manipulation. Organising these inspections has been extremely difficult, and none of the questions I have raised by email have ever been responded to, let alone answered.
I have also pursued the ongoing issue of the $1.4 million of owners’ sinking fund money invested in four apartments owned by an investment company operated by the chairman. In doing so, I have received numerous threatening letters alleging defamation.
If elected, I will pursue:
- Financial transparency — full disclosure of management and legal fees, and proper oversight of the sinking fund, which must be used for essential maintenance rather than speculative realestate investments.
- A thorough review of the financial management of the chairman’s investment company that owns the four apartments. These assets belong to owners through shareholdings and should deliver returns for owners. I will push for the committee to properly assess whether divestment is warranted, especially in light of rising sinking fund levies and deferred maintenance.
- Fair and open elections — voting processes must be beyond question. The practice of distributing pre-filled voting papers, where owners are asked to simply sign forms with voting choices already completed, must stop.
I strongly believe that committee members must stand up for owners’ interests and listen to owners’ concerns and advice. We need to keep levies low by spending owners’ money carefully and responsibly.
I am running alongside Chris Griffith, Paul Wang, Roy Manchip, and Taryn Kong, who share these aims. I would be grateful for your support.