The 90-day cap and STRA planning proposal engagement report – a closer look

Sandra Heilpern

The Short-Term Rental Accommodation Planning Proposal Engagement Report by Locale Consultants on behalf of Byron Shire Council (BSC) relates to community consultation for Council’s proposal tailoring short term rental accommodation (STRA) to the special needs of the Shire’s community. In essence it recommended a 90-day cap for the Shire, except for four coastal tourist precincts where it could take place every day of the year.

It is disturbing to note that there was one special interest group, and that was the owners of properties carrying out STRA. Many of these owners belong to an organisation called Australian Short Term Rental Accommodation Association (ASTRA). Other special interest groups were either ignored or warranted token minimal consultation.

How the special attention operated

Section 5.2 of the report explains that:

‘[T]he Minister for

Planning requested that Council undertake consultation with the Australian Short Term Rental Accommodation Association (ASTRA) before the exhibition of the planning proposal.

‘ASTRA was contacted on 10 August 2022 to attend an interview, with a follow-up request sent on 24 August 2022. Ultimately, an interview was held with ASTRA representatives on 29 September 2022. The interview was attended by four representatives of Byron ASTRA, a local committee set up to represent around 800 local STRA property owners in the Byron Shire.’

Further, in early September, Council sent emails to 1,994 property owners currently registered on the government’s STRA register. Twenty-seven per cent (530) of these registered property owners responded with a submission, over half being form letters produced for them by ASTRA. Not surprisingly these were not in favour of the 90-day cap for most of Byron Shire.

Council also emailed the 458 STRA property owners located in the mapped

365-day zone. It is a mystery why Council did not consider emailing the remaining non-STRA property owners in these four zones. One could expect that they would have something to say about open slather tourism in homes in their neighbourhood. Does

STRA take homes out of the long-term rental market?

There is a strong, but untested hypothesis that