Meanwhile, MTA-NSW’s McCall predicted a stoush between the AAIA members and the MTAA, over the ownership and control of MTAA House in Canberra, would end up in court.

The associations behind the AAIA own over 70 of the 115 units in the MTAA Unit Trust, which owns MTAA House. The Unit Trust has already been the subject of legal action initiated by MTA Queensland against MTAA. MTA Queensland claimed MTAA ignored pre-emptive rights and acted illegally in issuing itself four units redeemed last year by MTA-NSW.

MTAA settled, however McCall said the case cost every owner of the Unit Trust, in terms of both legal fees and the settlement itself.

He said that despite “owning over 80 per cent of the units” in the House, the AAIA members continued to have “no control and no say” over the building.

MTAA occupies a floor of MTAA House, with most of its 30-plus employees working at least part-time on MTAA Super business. Many of them will transfer to become employees of MTAA Super proper, a process which Leeanne Turner expected would be cost-neutral for members.

MTAA is understood to not have a lease on the office space, despite holding a 99-year lease from the Government over the land on which the low-rise is built. However, McCall said he was “very happy” to see MTAA Super continue its operations in the building.