5. Mr Brian Gaetjens asked -

In answer to my questions on Monday, the President said (in part) that -

"The Property Trust has a long standing policy of not requiring church land to have a specific trust to lease where the land is occupied by an external organisation in circumstances similar to those in question."

(a) How many "similar circumstances" are there in the Diocese where property 'held upon trust to be used for a Rectory or Parsonage' is being used by separate non-parochial organisations which are paying no rent or licence fee.

(b) In making such rent free provisions for non-parochial organisations, especially if against the express wishes of Parish Council, does the Property Trust take into account the written Rules or Objectives of the organisations, especially if those Rules or Objectives may:

• provide no or limited focus on Gospel outreach; 
• allow or encourage non-Christian membership of the body which elects the Leadership, allow or encourage non-Christian membership of the Leadership Committee, and allow or encourage non-Christians on the staff of that organisation.

(c) Noting that David Jurd of the Property Trust advised by 28 March 1995 letter that in order to allow the Bondi Beach Rectory to be used by an independent incorporated body, an Ordinance would be required to vary the trust set out in the 1967 Bondi Beach Ordinance which states that the Rectory 'shall be held upon trust to be used for a Rectory or Parsonage', on what basis and when did the Property Trust formulate a policy to allow use of property 'held upon trust to be used for a Rectory or Parsonage' for another purpose, against the express wish of Parish Council or Churchwardens, without requiring an Ordinance to vary the trust.

(d) What further actions can Bondi Beach Parish Council take to ensure that the Property Trust requires the current occupier of the Bondi Beach Rectory to either vacate the premises or accept and sign the Licence Agreement to which Parish Council has unanimously agreed and which would allow rent free use of the Rectory until 31 December 1999 (thereby agreeing to waive market rental of at least $25,000 pa until that date) which is the date by which the Provisional Parish is due to be reviewed.

(e) Does the Bishop, Archdeacon or Regional Council intend to replace the ministry of St Andrew's Bondi Beach Church, or to force the Church against the wishes of the elected representatives to amalgamate with, a separate non-parochial organisation by alienating our Rectory from the use for which the parishioners paid and purchased this building?

To which the President replied -

The extract given by the questioner from the previous answer "circumstances similar to those in question" referred to an external organisation occupying church land for a period of less than 24 hours in a day during any or all of 7 days a week. The previous answer did not intend to refer to any particular trust over the church land.

The previous answer gave a brief history of the "separate non-parochial organisation" referred to by the questioner. It started in 1993 as a minister controlled organisation (pursuant to clause 43 of the Church Administration Ordinance 1990). It occupied the rectory attached to the branch church of St Andrew's Bondi Beach rent free with the goodwill of the Minister and Parish Council of the Provisional Parish of Bondi. The organisation's creation and occupation of church land predated the creation of the Provisional Parish of Bondi Beach. The questioner wrote to the Property Trust on 17 May 1998 and stated in the appendix that "the actual operation of the (organisation) does have a strong Gospel focus, with the Christian members of staff having a concern for the salvation of (organisation) clients". Further, the work conducted by the organisation has become well accepted by the community and it is believed that its removal from this location would cause the Anglican Church's commitment to the community to be questioned.

For some years the Provisional Parish of Bondi has struggled financially. When the organisation commenced its work, it was in the hope that it would boost the health of the parish. Disputes occurred between the rector and the coordinators of the programme, in part because there were fundamental differences between the persons concerned about the ministry ethos or style. The Provisional Parish later asked the organisation to pay rent for the premises in order to help the financial situation of the parish.

In January 1996 the Provisional Parish promoted the Bondi Leasing Distribution Ordinance 1996 to authorise the distribution of income from a lease of part of St Matthew's Bondi church site used as a kindergarten under the Bondi Leasing Ordinance 1994. During the Standing Committee's deliberations about this ordinance the then Archdeacon raised the issue of the Bondi Beach organisation and its occupation of the rectory rent free, in order to encourage the provisional parish to use the kindergarten rent to relieve their financial circumstances. The Standing Committee requested the rector, parish council and churchwardens (and advised the Property Trust) to -

(a) incorporate the organisation as a distinct legal entity; and

(b) agree to allow the organisation to continue using the house rent free for the duration of the Bondi Leasing Ordinance 1994 (ie. Until December 2004).

Apparently, disputes between the parish leadership and the community centre continued during 1996. In December 1996 the organisation advised the Standing Committee that it was to be incorporated and sought permission to use a church name in the name of the incorporated body. The organisation also indicated that the Bondi Parish leadership intended a "parting of the ways" which would involve the organisation vacating the St Andrew's rectory. The organisation sought the assistance of the Standing Committee to stop this occurring. Mindful of the possible damaging effect of the dispute on the work of the Anglican Church in Bondi, and on the work of the organisation, the Standing Committee -

(a) requested the parish authorities not to take any action to effect a "parting of the ways"; and

(b) directed the Property Trust not to initiate or support any attempt to terminate the arrangements for the occupancy of the St Andrew's Rectory without the approval of the Standing Committee.

With effect 1 January 1997 the Provisional Parish of Bondi Beach was created while the rectory was occupied by the organisation. The organisation came under control of the acting curate-in-charge of the Provisional Parish of Bondi Beach. Other accommodation was provided for the curate-in-charge as part of the arrangement to create the Provisional Parish.

In early December 1997 a petition was received from the members of the Provisional Parish of Bondi Beach requesting the Standing Committee to act to terminate the occupation of the rectory by the organisation. The Standing Committee received the petition and after some debate did not change its earlier decision. Since then the churchwardens have made continual requests to the Standing Committee questioning its decision and asking it to rescind it.

In late December 1997 the organisation became an incorporated association and therefore a "separate non-parochial organisation" in order to become a "legal entity" which could receive certain government funding and more importantly in an attempt to break the deadlock of the dispute with the parish.

Since May 1998 the Property Trust has attempted to have a licence agreement approved by both the organisation and the parish council. The organisation has agreed to the licence agreement terminating in December 2003 (one year earlier), even though it had a number of provisional parish controlled limitations. However, the parish council (consisting of the curate-in-charge and 3 churchwardens) has consistently refused to agree, even though the licence agreement provides that it would terminate if Standing Committee rescinded its earlier decision.

In answer to the questions -

(a) Not known.

(b) In this case the organisation's written Rules or Objectives were created long after its creation, after occupation of the rectory and after the creation of the Provisional Parish of Bondi Beach.

(c) David Jurd is the Property Trust's Insurance Officer and was replying to a verbal question about a separate organisation occupying church land 24 hours per day for 7 days per week, ie, under a lease, not a licence agreement.

(d) To my knowledge nothing. The Property Trust does not wish to disregard a direction of the Standing Committee.

(e) I cannot answer about the intention of others.