Uniting Church wanted secrecy around its move to evict ex-homeless couple
The church has obtained a warrant in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) to force its tenants to leave the Mitchelton property, where it plans to develop a new 92-lot subdivision "so that the current housing crisis can be further alleviated".
Disability pensioner Michael Guettler and his partner, Maria Hall, have rented a former farmhouse on the site since 2022, when a social worker found them living in their car.
A church spokesman said it had provided the couple with "temporary affordable housing [and] to afford them transparency, the development application and relocation of the dwelling on the property have always been part of this arrangement".
Documents filed in the tribunal show the Uniting Church in Australia Property Trust (Q) repeatedly applied for orders to limit public scrutiny of its push to evict them.
On April 2, the property agent acting on the church's behalf, Grants Real Estate, sought a non-publication order because "the landlord does not want this QCAT case to affect the outcome of the development application".
"We also wish to respect the tenant's [sic] privacy as they are in a vulnerable situation," it said.
Mr Guettler said he thought the church had tried to "protect their brand from a corporate point of view" because the eviction would put the couple "at risk of becoming homeless again".
After the tribunal refused on April 10, the church applied for a closed hearing, citing concerns about media reporting.
"Should the media attend the QCAT hearing, this could negatively impact the outcome of the property development application," it said.
The application claimed publicity could also harm the property agent, which was a "small family business of two part-time employees, a father and daughter, with a small rental portfolio of less than 30 properties".
"Any form of negative press could severely impact this business and may cause the business to close, which would impact the welfare of Emma and Rob Grant," it said.
"We request that this hearing be closed to all members of the public including the media.
"Whilst we understand that we cannot prevent the media from reporting on this case, we wish to limit the information that is made available to them due to the reasons outlined above."
The tribunal refused that application on May 2.
The church was "aware of this matter progressing through the QCAT process and empowered our property managers to act on the church's behalf as the landlord to reach a resolution", its spokesman said.
The tribunal granted a warrant of possession on May 26, paving the way for the couple's eviction next month.
They are yet to secure alternative accommodation in a rental market with a 1 per cent vacancy rate and a social housing waiting list of almost 48,000 people.
The church, which bought the 21-hectare site for $3.5 million in 2020, assessed "the site's potential for other uses … including aged care and social housing, however it was deemed unsuitable", the spokesman said.
It now stands to make a windfall from a new 92-home estate in Mitchelton, where the median price for houses over the past year has been $1.23 million according to realestate.com.au.
Tribunal filings said the church was "aware that the tenants are in hardship, and as such, the lease has already been renewed three times on compassionate grounds".
"Unfortunately, due to the development of the property, and the demolition application, the owners are not in a position to renew the lease for a further term," it said.
Its property agent had "made many efforts to assist the tenants in finding a new home", citing emails to the couple listing rental vacancies on real estate websites.
The church spokesman said its agent had also offered help with "rental applications and references, and the church has been offering ongoing social support".
Mr Guettler denied the church had offered any help.
He said the couple, who paid $280 a week in rent, understood that the church was "not under any obligation to rent to us if they don't want to".
"But what I'm saying is that the overarching delineation between private rental and renting from a church is that the image of the church in society is one of compassion and sharing and caring and inclusivity," he said.
"And we don't feel that the inclusivity is alive at the moment and not once have they come here to ask how they can help us.
A day after QCAT signed off on the eviction notice, a report emerged of the church's sale of a 12-storey Brisbane city office block for $48 million.
Its trust bought the building for $40 million in 2007.
Set up to fund the church's charitable works, the trust held almost $400 million in assets including investment properties, according to its last filings with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.
Its charity status entitles it to discounts on development fees and its voluntary board is chaired by a former Macquarie Bank private wealth manager, Allan Hanson.
It has also provided land for affordable housing projects with the Queensland government, including on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait and at Warwick, about 150 kilometres south-west of Brisbane.
Mr Hanson and other members of the board did not respond when contacted by the ABC.
The church spokesman said it was a "leading provider of health and community services to thousands of Queenslanders".
"We offer a broad range of assistance for vulnerable people and are committed to helping people flourish," he said.
"The current situation highlights the overwhelming need for more affordable housing to be brought online as quickly as possible in Queensland."
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ABC News
10 minutes ago
- ABC News
Identity of NSW man behind $19m 'ethical' internet scheme horrifies customers
It was pitched as the opposite of the dark web, an "ethical" version of the internet, raising as much as $19 million from backers sold on an Australian man's promise of the "Lightweb". But after 12 years and funds from up to 2,000 "mum and dad" investors from all over the world, the Equilux Lightweb still has not launched. Many customers are now pulling out of the ambitious scheme after learning the man behind it has not been using his legal name, and that he has previously been sanctioned by the corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). The ABC can reveal that Lightweb's founder — David Stryker — is really David Dayan Sevelle, a NSW man the financial watchdog sued in 2006 for running an unregistered investment scheme that left 70 "unsophisticated" investors out of pocket to the tune of $13 million. The financial watchdog shut down the scheme and imposed permanent bans on Mr Sevelle. ASIC confirmed to the ABC it was now making "preliminary inquiries" into the Lightweb scheme. It comes as Mr Sevelle, currently residing in Thailand, has been holding weekly "meritocratic" training over Zoom, teaching his followers how to behave morally for when the alternative internet launches, while preaching that "transparency is key". Do you know more about this or have a similar story? Email The Lightweb claims to be a superior, safer version of the internet through its requirement that users verify their identity to stamp out paedophiles and other online criminals. "It was going to be a platform that was effectively impervious to corruption," said Sydneysider David Coffey, who was won over by the premise and ended up putting $160,000 into the Lightweb project. But Mr Coffey desperately wanted out as he learned more about the company's founder in 2023. "He [Sevelle] moved to Thailand, which really raised a hell of a lot of eyebrows," he said. "Then we found out about the ASIC stuff and I started to get really uneasy." Mr Sevelle declined to be interviewed by the ABC because: "We are preparing for a Website Launch [sic] and will do press releases accordingly at that time." He did send lengthy responses to questions via email. Those involved in the Lightweb scheme have not been buying shares. They have been pre-purchasing advertising slots, called broadcast certificates, for when the platform goes live. It means the venture is technically not an investment scheme, and therefore does not require a financial services licence. It also does not receive as much scrutiny from regulators. The ABC has obtained one broadcast certificate where Mr Sevelle signed off under the name David Stryker. In his statement to the ABC, Mr Sevelle said he had not lied about his real identity and was simply using a "professional name" the same way actors, writers and influencers did. He said it was a "privacy barrier" to protect "unwanted commercial IP theft attempts" and also because the digital currency industry "can be very dangerous with nefarious and bad actors". "I have never hidden behind this name and still operate my own company and register domain names and trademarks and IP under my name," he said. "I wonder if you were interviewing Marilyn Monroe [if she was alive], P!NK, John Wayne [if he was alive], Nicholas Cage, Emilio Estevez and Katy Perry and many others that you would be accusing them of being deceptive "fake namers" like you did me." An information pack that a sales agency distributed in 2017 promised massive returns on these broadcast certificates, projecting they would sell for between eight and 25 times their original price. The internal document also stated the Lightweb platform would be worth $10 billion when it finally launched. Mr Sevelle told the ABC, "We never promise a fixed rate of return", and said this document was not "authorised marketing content". "When discovered, our management team pulled the document from circulation immediately, and this led to, in part, the triggering of formal dissolution of the sales agency," he said. He went on to say he was confident "we will exceed the 25 per cent product value increase" in the future. The Lightweb program has expanded its offering and announced plans to create its own virtual currency, including one called the StrykerCoin. To date, the platform still does not have an active website or a product and missed its own most recent deadline of a May launch. Mr Sevelle said there had been multiple delays due to "outside influences" such as "limited early development funding", the COVID pandemic, and the cost-of-living crisis. He said he expected the platform to launch within 90 days after dealing with a "trademark challenge". The Lightweb project operates under companies registered in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US, including Create2tech Pty Ltd, Stryker Design, StrykerFusion and Stryker Design International. Mr Sevelle's third wife, Noppakao Yingnok, a Thai and Australian citizen, is registered as the sole director of these businesses. When the ABC asked Ms Yingnok questions about the operations of her companies, she said to "talk to David". Mr Sevelle said he shared responsibilities between himself, the leadership team, the consulting team, and his wife in managing the businesses and was a "key decision maker". An internal report from 2023 showed Mr Sevelle was not the director of the Lightweb business but appeared to have been making a sizeable amount of money. A company called Elleves Pty Ltd, which is "Sevelle" spelt backwards, was paid $250,000 in "consulting fees" in 2020 and 2021. Mr Sevelle is listed as the sole director of Elleves. In his statement to the ABC, Mr Sevelle said he had originally loaned money to the Lightweb companies to get them off the ground and that the $500,000 payment to Elleves Pty Ltd was an "accumulation over years" of uncharged fees. He claimed there was no direct benefit paid to him and that he was paid a salary of $50,000. Concerns among Lightweb members mounted when Mr Sevelle and Ms Yingnok moved overseas to Thailand, permanently, in early 2023. Around the same time, news of Mr Sevelle's real identity broke among his supporters, and his past was laid bare. ASIC sued Mr Sevelle in the Federal Court in 2006 for running a property venture that "made statements to clients that were misleading or deceptive" and for "improperly assisting clients to obtain loans to invest in the scheme". Mr Sevelle ran a slew of property companies, trading under the name Mega Money, operating in the Central Coast, Newcastle, Hunter Valley, South Coast and Canberra regions, with the intention of pulling together enough mum-and-dad investors to pay for stamp duty and development approvals on blocks of land, and sell them at a profit to developers. But ASIC froze the Mega Money companies by court order, and eventually they were all forced into liquidation. In an affidavit filed with the Federal Court, the court-appointed liquidator, Justin Walsh of Ernst & Young, said Mr Sevelle spent "significant sums of money" from the company on "personal purposes". Those included an $86,000 antique "sloop" yacht, moored in the Toronto Yacht Club, and also "a large number of cash withdrawals" from ATMs. "Large sums of money" also went into Mr Sevelle and his then-wife's personal house and two investment units. He was not married to Ms Yingnok at that time. Two of these properties were sold before the liquidator could lodge a caveat to protect creditor interests at the site. "The [company] accounts were replete with inconsistent treatment of recurring transactions, unexplained transactions, and fundamental balancing errors," the liquidator added. The "majority" of investors had borrowed against their homes to invest in the scheme, and many had dipped into their superannuation as well, Mr Walsh's report noted. Mr Sevelle was banned permanently through court-ordered enforceable undertakings from providing financial advice, dealing in financial products, and carrying on a financial services business, including through the promotion and operation of any managed investment scheme. Separately, ASIC also permanently banned Mr Sevelle from financial services. "It definitely affected our retirement," said a Mega Money investor from Maitland, near Newcastle. Another couple from the local area, who lost $90,000 from the property scheme, said of Mr Sevelle: "He could probably sell coal to Newcastle [like] ice to Eskimos. We fell into that trap quite easily." Mr Sevelle told the ABC that "there was no impropriety" in the Mega Money collapse and that he was not fined or charged over anything. "ATM withdrawals, antiques, jewellery, any personal purchases made were from post-income tax paid earnings for those personal purchases," he added. As Lightweb customers learned the full extent of Mr Sevelle's past, he released a lengthy statement to explain the situation and his decision to change his name. He claimed ASIC found a "glitch" in the way he ran his property companies where he was treating all his businesses as one, which meant he was over the limit of investment funds and was running an unregistered managed scheme. "I had been treated like a pariah for no reason other than one technical accounting glitch," he wrote. "I apologise I did not disclose this to you at the initial outset of the business recruitment process, but I am sure you will appreciate my position and my actions to best nurture the project. "I do not wish my name to be associated to this project till we are secure, launched and commercially sound. "I hope you can understand this explanation … Transparency is key." He signed off as "David Sevelle AKA David Stryker (professional name)." Despite the explanations, a 2023 company document showed 90 people demanded refunds from the Lightweb scheme. Customers had been promised full refunds, but Mr Coffey, the Sydneysider who put $160,000 into the Lightweb project, alleged the company was "putting up walls everywhere", including placing a limit on how much he would receive monthly. He ended up having to engage lawyers, and it took until the end of last year to get all his money back. "Our client is understandably concerned about the legitimacy of your business and ability to refund his investment pursuant to your agreement with him," the legal letter, addressed to Noppakao Yingnok and David Stryker, read. "Our client has since been advised that you will now be paying the remainder of the refund by way of $10,000 payments over 10 months. "Your company has no standing to set these repayment terms with our client. Your contract with our client provides that a full refund is available upon request." Mr Sevelle told the ABC that, for cashflow reasons, refunds of more than $10,000 could not be paid in a lump sum. "It is not prudent to do so, as we are not a bank," he said. "No-one was ever boxed into staying. No startups or scale-ups have ever refunded pre-launch that we are aware of." Mr Sevelle has previously told his customers on a video call that the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has audited the business numerous times due to the number of self-managed super funds in the scheme. The ATO told the ABC it would not comment on specific cases or confirm if an investigation was underway. In a statement, a spokesperson said: "The ATO encourages anyone setting up an SMSF [self-managed super fund] to ensure they understand what is involved in running their own super fund, and that they are ready and able to meet these obligations." The ABC has spoken to multiple people, who did not want to be identified, who said the company's most recent sales rhetoric involved encouraging investors to mortgage their homes to obtain more money. Morgan, 26, from Newcastle, said her father was so taken with the Lightweb idea he was considering retiring early so he could put his long service leave into the scheme. His family convinced him not to, but he is now looking into mortgaging the family home. He has already put $40,000 into the scheme. "It's definitely caused a lot of tension, especially because I feel like Mum and Dad have worked so hard for everything they have, and to have someone convince my dad to hand that over, it's just mind-boggling, like it's insane," Morgan said. Barry Urquhart, 66, from Newcastle, bought $7,000 worth of broadcast certificates several years ago. When he tried to put in more money through his superannuation, he said his accountant would not authorise it. "He said it [the Lightweb] was nothing; it was just a dream," Mr Urquhart said. Mr Urquhart has since gotten his money back and reported the company to ASIC. Mr Sevelle said in his statement to the ABC that: "The truth is that if they [customers] are no longer in our organisation and they have been refunded what they were entitled to, they of course will not want us to succeed, as our success will then be their failure." "I am sorry for both you and I, that you did not see this as a bigger story of innovation, empowerment, job creation and unlimited opportunities," he said. Mr Sevelle "will dance you around like you're on Dancing with the Stars," said one Lightweb customer who did not want to speak on the record. "He likes to use so much financial technical jargon and acronyms to confuse the hell out of people," they said. Others have described Mr Sevelle as having the "gift of the gab" and went as far as saying it felt like a cult of personality. Mr Sevelle has been holding hours-long "moral" training sessions every week over Zoom for years, where he teaches his followers how to behave like "meritocrats" for when the Lightweb finally launches. Some of these sessions involve movie nights, such as watching The Big Short and Eat the Rich. "There were so many people who drank the Kool-Aid and were calling him the Messiah," said Mr Coffey, the Sydney customer who had taken his money out. "It was constantly reinforced how blessed we were to be in the company at this time of imminent launch … so we had better buy more of the upcoming new investments before it's too late," said another customer, on condition of anonymity. ASIC said it was "aware of concerns related to these entities and is making preliminary inquiries". The financial regulator added: "Speaking generally, super-switching misconduct is an increasing concern for ASIC." "We are seeing more and more reports of people being targeted by pushy, high-pressure sales tactics into switching their super into high-risk, complex schemes," a spokesperson said. "Other red flags include high-pressure sales tactics, poor or even non-existent product disclosure, and promises of unrealistically high returns." Mr Sevelle said he welcomed both ASIC and the ATO looking into the Lightweb businesses.
News.com.au
40 minutes ago
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Assistive tech targets market growth while improving lives
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News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Diggers and Dealers: The fresh faces picking up the keys to the ASX gold mid-tier
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Catalyst has outlined a goal to increase production to 200,000ozpa over the next three years while lowering all-in sustaining costs to below $2000 an ounce. Speaking to Stockhead during Diggers, de Crespigny said it was hard to know what the future held, so the focus at Catalyst was on things within the company's control. 'I think internally, we try and keep terribly focused on the belt, and we think we can get that to 200,000 ounces, and we do think that as we get further down that line, we're probably quite well-placed in terms of our value relative to others,' he said. 'I think we've got ambitions to do bigger things. Whether or not we're good enough to get there, time will tell. Whether or not the conditions present, time will tell. 'But we think we've got a very strong technical team. We think we've got a very good operating team, so if the opportunity presents, hopefully we can be good enough to seize those opportunities.' Though smaller than Ora Banda or Catalyst, Brightstar is experiencing rapid growth under geologist and former Canaccord Genuity investment banker Alex Rovira. In the past two years, Brightstar has merged with Kingwest Resources and Alto Metals, acquired unlisted Linden Alliance, bought Gateway Mining's Montague project and only last month, announced a merger with Aurumin. The company's Second Fortune and Fish underground mines in WA's Goldfields are ramping up to 35,000-40,000ozpa, but the company has much bigger ambitions. 'When we execute on Menzies and Laverton, then ultimately Sandstone, we're targeting a plus-200,000 ounce production profile,' Rovira told Stockhead at Diggers. 'That's akin to what Ramelius and Westgold were doing 24 months ago, prior to some of their recent acquisitions. 'Ultimately, I'm a firm believer that you need scale. Institutional investors aren't going to buy something that's a 30,000 or 40,000 ounce producer.' 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'We've obviously had a very aggressive two and a half years and the opportunity that presents for people is exciting, it's attractive,' he said. 'I know we've been very active on the M&A front and that's what people see, but ultimately, building a business is challenging, and you need the right people, and I think we've been very focused on making sure we've got the right bums in the right seats.'
