PERSON OF INTEREST
Michelle Scott From the cane farm to the Commissioner’s Office
By Grantlee Kieza, Industry Reporter
“My first job was in a law firm in the Brisbane CBD for about four years and I also spent a year and a half in the mid-90s working in London as a corporate lawyer.
Michelle Scott grew up just outside Mackay on her parents’ cane farm watching them solve the many vagaries of life on the land.
“I came back to Brisbane in 1997 and I joined the public service for the first time at the Office of State Revenue. Since then I’ve had a variety of roles in the public and private sector.
She now brings vast experience in many fields to her new role as Queensland’s Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management.
“I’ve come to my new role from the Queensland Treasury where I was Director of Land Tax in the Office of State Revenue. Throughout my time in legal practice and at the Office of State Revenue working in the tax sphere, I have had a lot of involvement with the property industry.”
In a rural city, which was starting to celebrate the potential of its local hero Cathy Freeman, then a teenage athlete with golden potential, Ms Scott was off and running at the same time to meet her own lofty goals. Her parents are still working the cane farm and she tries to visit every year, but after doing her primary and secondary schooling in Mackay she left the sugar town in the late 80s to study at the University of Queensland in Brisbane. Her interests away from the office include skiing, the beach, bushwalking and reading and she tries to run twice a week to stay fit.
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Michelle Scott
Her education was a real marathon “I completed my commerce degree and a law degree with honours at the University of Queensland and I’ve also
done a diploma of education. I have a graduate certificate in management from Flinders University, too,” Ms Scott said. “I’ve done a lot of study. I guess I’ve always just loved to learn. INDUSTRY
Ms Scott started in her new role in April 2020 at a time when COVID-19 was turning the world on its head including the community titles sector which she says “has grown over recent years and now represents 500,000 lots in Queensland”. Ms Scott said the COVID-19 environment was an especially challenging time with financial pressures, changes, and uncertainty “affecting people who are living, working and investing in community title schemes”. ResortNews | November 2020
