PLACE ATTACHMENT AND DISPOSSESSED HOMEOWNERS IN QUEENSLAND INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS: THEIR HOME IS THEIR STORY

The acquisition of land undertaken for public purposes has left many residential property owners deprived of their homes and meaningful opportunity to rehouse. The response and subsequent framework developed by government have been to address such loss by payment of market value with other heads of compensation for incidental loss, with a top-up of solatium for good measure in some states. This form of compensation does not recognise that dispossessed owner's homes are their story. The absence of understanding their loss has led to gross dissatisfaction towards government and the public purposes for which land is acquired. This paper defines the meaning of place attachment and the factors that impact dispossessed property owners in Brisbane and the Gold Coast Queensland. Interviews with acquiring officers and dispossessed homeowners demonstrate the complexity of cases, the lack of preparation and the limitation of skilled professionals within the acquisition process. It illuminates the underlying budgetary blindness of government by substituting place attachment with monetary compensation. It sets out the factors that account for loss and the equivalence needed through a dispossessed owner' s lens. It defines the factors that government has recognised should be reformed, but yet to be adopted in achieving acquisition by agreement