Thursday, 21 March 2024

Bills

Estate Agents, Residential Tenancies and Other Acts Amendment (Funding) Bill 2024

Second reading

Debate resumed.

Matt FREGON (Ashwood) (14:52): Just before lunch I was starting to talk about the importance of alternative dispute resolution and how having that available in this bill for rental disputes will be a very good thing for Victorians. I will give an example on a slightly different matter, where we do not yet have alternative dispute resolution. I note the Minister for Government Services is at the table – I thank her for her work on this – and maybe this is something that we can look at down the track. It is in regard to the purchasing of vehicles.

I have a constituent, John, a self-funded retiree who is about 80. He sold their previous car, and he bought his wife a new car, a Mercedes. They saved a bit of money because they got the dealer model. I will not mention the name of the franchise because frankly it has gone past that, but essentially he had some problems with the car. As they were driving their new C-class the dash went off – no speed, no engine and the heads-up display apparently went off. This concerned John’s wife somewhat, so she obviously pulled over and they got the car sent back to have it fixed. To cut a long story relatively short, that problem reoccurred four times. The last time the same problem occurred it was in the shop for 73 days. The franchise did provide them with an alternative car – it was not the same type, but it was an alternative car – so they were trying to fix it. The problem that John has is that his wife does not have confidence in the car anymore, and I think in regard to this, after having the same problem four times, that is probably fair. Anyway they finally got the car back. They had it for three days. They went shopping; they came back from the shops with their stuff and the car would not start. It is a different problem now.

In the situation where you look at consumer affairs law and the Australian Consumer Law, it would be fair to say that John would have a decent argument that the car might be a lemon, and if so, there are ways to argue in court that that is the case. But in order to do that, because the car is worth more than $40,000 – VCAT cap out at that – he has to go to the Magistrates’ Court. That is going to cost him thousands to do. He is a self-funded retiree, and while he has got a bit of cash obviously – because he sold a car and bought this car – fronting up possibly $10,000 for a win or a loss or a you do not know is a problem.

Hypothetically, if the Mercedes company said ‘Let’s go to some dispute resolution’ or ‘Let’s try and work this out’, that would be a good move. It would not necessarily cost us much. They could come to terms, everyone would save money and the courts – or in this case, VCAT – would not be using their time on things that could be otherwise agreed. In this case Mercedes unfortunately have not done that. They have basically responded to John, who said, ‘You take the car back, I’ll take my money back and we’ll call it even. We’ll move on.’ They have said, ‘No, it’s with our lawyers,’ which is a bit rough. I mean, five times this car has been back in the shop now; four for the same reason and one for another. We do not give legal advice in this house, but it seems a bit rough to me.

I think this is why, if you look at the rental reforms that this government has made over many years – and I go back to even little things like allowing renters to put hooks on the walls or have pets. I remember when my kids were little, if I went to IKEA and bought some shelves Rebecca would not let me finish that job without attaching those shelves to the wall, because kids have a habit of climbing things, and we have all seen horror stories of kids having bookshelves land on them. So before we bought those changes in for rentals, if you were renting and you had a toddler, you would not be able to do that without your landlord saying yes. You would like to think most landlords would say yes, but some might not. Again, if you have a dispute with your landlord following the hopeful passing of this bill, you will be able to not just go straight to VCAT but hopefully have some alternative dispute resolution and save not only yourself and not only the landlord but the state as a whole and the courts and VCAT time and money.

While we are at it I will give a shout-out to the mediation people of the Victorian Bar, who do great work. They sometimes feel like they are not treated as kindly as some of their other colleagues, but I think we all appreciate it when we need it. Until then, you probably do not know anything about it. Going back to John, John had no idea that his experience with Mercedes would leave him either with a car that his wife is not comfortable with or having to go to the Magistrates’ Court and potentially risk 10,000 bucks – might win, might not, who knows? That is a matter for the courts.

The other thing I just want to quickly say in regard to some of the work that we have done on underquoting – and again it is a testament to the minister at the table, Minister Williams, and the former minister, Minister Horne – it is very important, especially in a rising market, which we have seen for decades now. It is very difficult to know how much to spend on your house if you get the feeling that the prices are underquoted. I know there would be many people lucky enough to have bought a house who went in thinking, ‘Oh, yes, we’re probably in the market for this,’ and then got blown out of the water in 10 minutes and thought, ‘Oh, well. There you go.’ So on that, I would just like to give a shout-out to another constituent and a former constituent, Heinz Weller and Peter Stewart. Peter passed away a couple of years ago. Heinz and Peter are probably well known to Consumer Affairs Victoria because for many years they were on a crusade for underquoting. I thank them for their assistance with my office and being able to put their case forward with the former minister, and I thank the former minister for listening. With the work that we have done even recently, I saw there is another real estate agent who is getting a bit of trouble. We are doing good work in this area; this is more of it. I commend the bill.

Richard RIORDAN (Polwarth) (14:59): I rise this afternoon to speak on the Estate Agents, Residential Tenancies and Other Acts Amendment (Funding) Bill 2024. I guess any bill that comes before this house that can do more to make the relationship between renter and landlord or a rental property owner better, more seamless, more efficient and quicker to resolve is potentially a good act. However, I do note in this particular piece of legislation, and with the second-reading speech tabled, there are a couple of points that I would like to elaborate a little on. The minister says that:

The Victorian Government is committed to ensuring access to fair, safe and secure housing for all Victorians.

As the Shadow Minister for Housing I just make the observation that I know in public housing the rental experience that tenants have there is for some reason deemed a different experience to that of tenants in the private sector. I guess if the state government was in fact a premiere landlord, a rolled-gold first-rate class landlord rental provider, then that would be understandable, because you would not have too many complaints. But the Ombudsman released a report just yesterday into the experience of public sector tenants and found that in fact the Victorian government is probably the state’s worst landlord – a lousy landlord, you might say, certainly not one setting the highest standards. What we learned in that report yesterday is that the Ombudsman found herself having to produce it as a follow-up, because when she did the report two years earlier the government failed to make any commentary. In fact, she goes on to say in this follow-up report that three ministers were in the job and that in that time not one of them had the courtesy to respond to the Ombudsman’s report on the way tenants were experiencing their landlord. I think when the government comes to play and expects the private sector and private landlords and real estate agents and all those involved in the market to show ethical, progressive behaviours, then it is quite frankly astounding that the Victorian government chooses to flout all those expectations themselves.

The report found, for example, an 83 per cent increase in complaints handed to the Ombudsman over the last six years. And not only that, she also made the observation that tenants were becoming so desperate for getting simple things such as blocked toilets, plumbing that does not work and basic services repaired that they were being forced to go to the media, to members of Parliament, pulling every string possible just to get basic services done. I think when we look at the way the rental and housing crisis is manifesting itself in Victoria at the moment, one of the best ways we could get more transparency and better service into the private market is not possibly through more legislation and more rules, and in the case of this, creating yet another Victorian government authority of some description but in fact to get more supply into the market, so that the consumer – the renter – has more choice that is suitable for them.

I was disturbed just this afternoon to receive a response from the department and Homes Victoria on a family that we have mentioned here in Parliament a couple of question times ago, a single dad with a profoundly disabled daughter who is unable to access accommodation in a regional city. I received correspondence today that in fact Homes Victoria has no solution at all for that family any time in the foreseeable future and in fact has no housing stock and has no plans to do anything about it. So where does that family go to resolve its accommodation crisis? At the moment it is forced to rely on the goodwill and support of a community who has provided them a bus to live in, but that is far from adequate. In fact I met also with another family in very, very similar circumstances – a profoundly disabled daughter, both families had. This other family has been 10 years waiting to get accommodation that has a shower for a 20-year-old disabled young woman, confined for the rest of her life to a wheelchair, unable to access the bathroom facilities in the accommodation that this government provides. So this family and this poor young woman can only access a shower once a week when carers come round to both lift her into the glass cubicle, rather than the all-access shower. It actually beggars belief that in this day and age a government that can find billions to spend on an underground tunnel cannot make sure that for the most vulnerable people in this community – after 10 years, mind you; this did not just suddenly happen – they can offer something as simple as a shower. But I am not surprised, because the Ombudsman’s report basically detailed that.

We heard from the Ombudsman’s report yesterday that people in public housing are being left with a bucket for a toilet for 18 months. We heard about rats and mice. We heard about basic maintenance that just cannot get fulfilled. In fact late last year, about this time last year actually it was, a single mum and two kids escaping domestic violence, who were very, very, very desperate to leave the community that they were in for safety reasons, finally got a house through Homes Victoria. I went with them to the house they got. The house that they got had not been painted. The stove did not work. It had no blinds on the windows. It had a small potentially functional courtyard that was just littered with broken glass and debris, and the spouts were all full of grass. No-one from Homes Victoria had either noticed or ever bothered to do basic spout maintenance. The house inside reeked. It was not just a stuffy smell of mould or something like that. It just reeked, probably from never having been cleaned or serviced properly between tenants.

I just sat there, and I apologised to that family as a representative of the Parliament that she elects, the Parliament that is supposed to represent her. The government is the largest landlord. It is not as if providing housing accommodation is not something this government should actually understand or have some skills in. They have 64,000 properties. Those 64,000 properties, as the Ombudsman said, are handled badly – poorly serviced and badly maintained. But worst of all, for the very thing that this legislation says it is enforcing and trying to do in the private sector, this government refuses to hold itself to the same account.

There were other announcements today through Consumer Affairs Victoria – that we are going to have a panel to go out hunting down bad private landlords. This government is prepared to impose penalties of many thousands of dollars on landlords that do not do the basics, and yet this government, which is the largest landlord, refuses to hold itself to the same standards and the same level of accountability.

For the many Victorians in a housing crisis – the 60,000 families still waiting for a home, the 60,000 ‍families waiting for somewhere permanent to live – they have got a rough road ahead of them, because not only is this government mismanaging its Big Build program but we heard in the other place just this afternoon in question time that the minister does not have a plan for when the department demolishes the 44 public housing towers. At the moment demolition tenders are now underway to demolish the first three of the towers that will displace many thousands of people. In six years this government has only managed to provide an extra 1322 homes, a figure that the minister herself did not dispute. She did not dispute the fact that in six years she has only added an extra 1322 homes, and yet they are going to commence demolishing homes with nowhere and no plan for those people to go to. Once again, the state’s biggest landlord, who is forcing better behaviours and better standards, which we would not necessarily disagree with, on the private sector, refuses to hold itself accountable to the same levels and expectations. I think that is a huge worry to all Victorians.

Finally, in the few seconds I have left, this bill references the government’s housing statement and its need to provide more homes. I would make the observation that this government has promised Victorians 80,000 new homes. A big percentage of those will need to be rental homes. We have seen this government only manage to get just a bit over 50,000 in the last 12 months. They are now miles behind their targets before they have even properly begun. It is a real concern. Let us hope this government can be a better landlord and a better provider of accommodation than it is now.

Emma VULIN (Pakenham) (15:09): I rise to speak on the Estate Agents, Residential Tenancies and Other Acts Amendment (Funding) Bill 2024. Firstly, I congratulate the Minister for Government Services for bringing this bill to the house. This is a bill which paves the way for all tenants to have the support they need to ensure they have appropriate, safe and secure housing. Its passage is necessary to begin delivery of key rental-related reforms set out in Victoria’s Housing Statement: The Decade Ahead 2024–2034.

This bill will amend the Estate Agents Act 1980 and the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 to authorise funds from the Victorian Property Fund and the Residential Tenancies Fund established under those acts to be utilised to fund alternative dispute resolution and consumer advocacy and assistance services. So what does that really mean? It is about making it simpler for renters to get the support they need when a dispute arises and gives landlords and agents important guidance to manage their properties professionally and ethically.

Over the past 10 years the number of rental properties has increased by more than 32 per cent in Victoria, but it also now takes longer to save to buy a home, so we are now in a situation where the demand for rental properties is skyrocketing. In Pakenham it costs on average more than $520 a week to rent a family home, which is a considerable amount for many low-income working families in my electorate. Three years ago in February 2021 it cost around $360 a week to rent home in Pakenham, so this increase is significant. Renting bigger and more spacious homes costs more, and you are looking at about $600 a week. Although this is not as expensive as areas closer to Melbourne, remember I am referring to the last suburb on the most distant growth area of Melbourne 60 kilometres from the Melbourne GPO. With queues out the door at rental inspections, this does mean that just to put a roof over their family’s head people can end up accepting a lease on a property that is not up to scratch.

Often the reasons for a dispute will just be one of a range of cost-of-living pressures a renter could be facing. Having a medical emergency or having a large bill come in unexpectedly could lead them to fall into rent arrears and the landlord not being open to drawing up a payment plan. When unexpected thing happen, like my stroke seven years ago, it changes everything. All of a sudden a loss of income or a massive change in earnings seriously impacts every other aspect of your life – not just for you but for your family and in turn the community. It could be a matter where a landlord is not fully aware of their obligation on what might seem a small repair on a necessary appliance, like having a working oven. A renter should not have to end up at VCAT to have simple repairs done, and a landlord should not have to go to VCAT to seek rent in arrears. VCAT should be the last resort, not the first stop.

In the landmark housing statement this government committed to establishing an alternative dispute resolution service, so this is exactly that – an alternative way to resolve disputes about housing between two parties other than VCAT. This organisation will be called Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria and will provide a one-stop shop for renters, agents and landlords to resolve tenancy disputes over rent, damages, repairs and bonds. As the housing statement says, it will have a clear pathway to settle issues faster, more fairly and in a cheaper way.

This organisation will be created by expanding the use of the Victorian Property Fund and the Residential Tenancies Fund to fund the establishment and ongoing running costs of assisting consumers in relation to housing and property issues. With the right support, those with housing and property issues can avoid having a dispute mediated in the first place while others needing support to bring a more serious issue forward to the right people to be resolved will be pointed in the right direction. Part of this initiative includes funding for the financial counselling program administered by Consumer Affairs Victoria. This financial counselling, often provided by local not-for-profit organisations, enables people to get the help they need to alleviate the impacts of economic abuse and hardship. It helps people to manage debts, stabilise their financial situation and rebuild and get on with their lives. In turn it places them in a position to be a reliable tenant.

I did want to note that the Victorian Property Fund has been of some benefit to my community in the past through the housing funding. In the 2017–18 grant round, the Victorian Women’s Housing Association received over $1.3 million towards the construction of affordable housing in Pakenham. Expanding the Victorian Property Fund to include other supports makes administrative sense. On rental disputes, yes, currently there is a backlog at VCAT, and to tackle this the Attorney-General in the other place appointed 20 new VCAT members in November last year to assist with hearings. Sixteen of these were specifically appointed staff to help to clear the residential tenancies backlog.

This government is recognising help is needed, and are doing something about it. There are more reforms in the housing statement to come which will assist renters. They include stopping landlords from evicting first-term renters to secure higher rent, extending notice of rent increase and notice to vacate periods to 90 days, the creation of a portable rental bond scheme and the stamping out of all types of rental bidding.

In my reading on these issues it became apparent to me that one of these initiatives in particular, the portable rental bond scheme, is well worth our investment.

This bill covers quite a few changes, but it also covers the closure of the Sex Work Regulation Fund. On 1 December last year the full decriminalisation of sex work occurred in Victoria. This bill will close the Sex Work Regulation Fund, which was established as a trust account to support the operation of the previous sex work licensing and registration scheme. The scheme has remained open to refund brothel owners and managers their licensing fees. Also, the Public Records Advisory Council will be abolished under this bill.

There is a lot to talk about, but I know there are other members in the house that would like to speak on this, so I do commend this bill to the house.

Gabrielle DE VIETRI (Richmond) (15:16): This bill to set up a funding flow for a new dispute resolution body for renters is a sign that the pressure on the government is working – pressure from renters who are crying out to have their basic rights met through Consumer Affairs Victoria and VCAT, to absolutely no avail. I think we can all agree that our current dispute resolution system is embattled, with grossly inadequate funding, with an out-of-control backlog and with delays stretching up to two years, affecting thousands and thousands of renters. That is why when the government announced this new dispute resolution body six months ago, I was hopeful a new body would be able to clear the backlog and would be able to give renters the time to have their cases heard to resolve some of the horrendous situations that renters are finding themselves in, with mould and damp and drafts and doors that do not lock and toilets that do not work. But this bill and this funding body will really have no impact on the situation – the dire situation – that renters are facing if we do not actually change the laws to enable renters to have their rights met. It reinforces a drastic power imbalance between renters and landlords that still prioritises landlord profit before renters’ rights to an affordable, safe and secure place to live. It does nothing to change our current legislative environment, which reinforces renters’ powerlessness.

Renters have told me that 40 per cent rent increases are being given the rubber stamp of approval by consumer affairs, causing immense distress and huge financial insecurity. That is because under Labor our laws allow unlimited rent increases. This new dispute resolution body will have no additional powers to prevent unlimited rent increases being slapped on a renter, forcing many renters to move out to a cheaper, further away, mouldier property to be able to afford the rent. Because the onus is on renters either to prove that their landlord is withholding bond unfairly or to prove that their landlord has not met the minimum standard – it is on the renter to prove that a rent rise is unreasonable as long as they are given notice – most renters are actually too scared to pursue their rights to a healthy, affordable, secure home because of the very real threat of a landlord retaliation: exorbitant, punitive rent rises or a straight-out notice to vacate. That is not to mention of course Labor’s own despicable record of being the biggest and worst landlord in the state themselves, forcing our public housing residents to live in leaky, infested, unsafe homes that they have deliberately created in a program of deliberate neglect and cost-cutting to be able to demolish these homes under the guise of them being unsuitable to live in. This government must also apply the same standards that they expect private landlords to provide to their own public housing stock, and they must also ensure that there is a plentiful supply of public housing so that our public system does not experience this kind of exorbitant rent hikes because of the vacancy rate.

Renters have been putting the pressure on this government to fix these issues, and as the rental crisis has got worse, it is great to see that the pressure is finally working, with the announcement today from Labor that there will be 14 new staff at Consumer Affairs Victoria and the establishment of this new dispute resolution body. But 14 new staff to deal with the very real complaints of the 700,000 ‍Victorians who rent is hardly a taskforce, because as long as unlimited rent rises and no-grounds evictions are still legal, the Victorian dispute resolution body will be utterly toothless.

How can the government guarantee that this service will be fairer, faster and cheaper if a landlord can still kick out a renter for very legitimate complaints about a mould-infested, damp, cold, leaky dwelling? How will it be fairer, faster and cheaper if renters are too scared to even ask for basic repairs or maintenance because the law does not give them any power and because they are vulnerable to exorbitant rent rises or a straight-out eviction as retaliation? How do we know it is going to be any different from what currently exists? This system will continue to be useless unless we also change the laws that give landlords endless power to screw over renters – laws that are pushing renters to the brink. That is why the Greens will be supporting the Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs’ reasoned amendment, which requires further information about how this body will operate.

I also want to raise some concerns about another aspect of this bill – that is, the section that abolishes the Public Records Advisory Council, or PRAC. This is a legislated advisory body that is an important element of the operation and oversight of any archives, including the Public Record Office Victoria. The designated roles required to constitute PRAC ensure that the advice provided to the public record office is representative of diverse communities and their needs, with important expertise across areas including Indigenous heritage, public administration, information management and family history.

Stakeholders have told us that there was no opportunity to provide feedback about this decision before the bill was introduced and that no information about the decision to develop alternative avenues to consult on policy and practices in managing public records is forthcoming as part of this change. It appears that these alternative avenues for consultation are yet to be developed, which undermines their effectiveness and is not a guarantee of their operations into the future. An open and transparent consultative process regarding the future of PRAC and methods by which the public record office will seek independent advice are critical and should occur prior to the advisory body being removed from legislation. I look forward to further discussions with the government about this bill.

Kathleen MATTHEWS-WARD (Broadmeadows) (15:23): I rise to support the Estate Agents, Residential Tenancies and Other Acts Amendment (Funding) Bill 2024. The Labor government’s landmark package and Victoria’s Housing Statement: The Decade Ahead 2024–2034 were developed to boost housing supply and affordability. Victoria is the fastest growing state in the country, with population projected to reach 10.3 million by 2051. This bill specifically speaks to the key objective of protecting renters rights by making fairer, faster and cheaper ways to resolve tenancy disputes through the establishment of Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria, or RDRV.

The amendments proposed to the Estate Agents Act 1980 and the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 will allow government to expand the uses of the Victorian Property Fund and the Residential Tenancies Fund to support alternative dispute resolution options, including RDRV. It will also fund a range of advocacy and assistance services. The current process for an unresolved tenancy dispute is to lodge an application via VCAT. The introduction of a quicker and more informal dispute resolution service will reduce the need for many matters to progress to VCAT, which can be expensive, with the majority of services requiring an application fee, and lengthy – the current average wait time on the VCAT website is four weeks for a hearing and can be up to 12 weeks for compensation and bond claims. And it can be intimidating as a formal court proceeding with evidence, swearing in and testifying. These barriers to fair dispute resolution are particularly pertinent in the electorate of Broadmeadows, which has higher levels of disadvantage and lower levels of literacy. RDRV will provide a one-stop shop for not only renters but agents and landlords to resolve simple tenancy disputes over rent, damages, repairs and bonds. Access to the RDRV will be free.

Often a rental dispute can be just one of a range of cost-of-living pressures a renter could be facing. Removal of one of these financial barriers for dispute resolution will make an immediate difference. A reduction in VCAT applications will reduce wait times throughout VCAT and will also mean that VCAT will be more available for serious or complicated matters which are appropriate to be heard in a formal court setting. As I mentioned earlier, a quick, fair and simplified resolution process will be highly welcomed locally. The Broadmeadows electorate has the highest number of people living with a disability and over 40,000 adults who have not yet completed year 12, and 62 per cent of my constituents speak a language other than English. Broadmeadows is often the first place many new arrivals begin their lives in Australia. A rental property is a common place to start their residence. I highlight the opportunity to promote the RDRV service in different languages and through different mechanisms to ensure people new to the country are aware of their rights and obligations and people who speak a language other than English have easily accessible information and are therefore less vulnerable to exploitation. Information sessions for community groups and organisations may be useful, as may notices in community facilities such as libraries and neighbourhood houses, to help engage the communities that will benefit directly.

This bill will also enable the use of funds to resource organisations that advocate for tenants. This includes funding for the financial counselling program run by Consumer Affairs Victoria, which eases the impact of economic abuse and financial hardship. We know that older people, people with a disability and those with low literacy are too often at risk of financial abuse. Additional resources for financial counselling programs will give the opportunity to help more Victorians manage their debts, get control of their finances and get on with their lives. In addition, the housing statement will deliver a rental stress support package of $2 million to support legal, financial and advocacy services. This will reduce the current strain on tenancy support services in Victoria and assist Victorian renters when they are most in need of help. I welcome the support for our most vulnerable. We are delivering an easier system where tenants will be less likely to need legal assistance, as well as a financial boost to the tenancy support services.

A large proportion of our constituent inquiries at the office are around housing and tenancy matters. Common themes are around the ongoing and increasing need for housing, increasing costs and the need for certainty over people’s future living conditions and finances. Constituents have let us know of incidences where their private landlord has written advising them of a $400-per-week increase to their existing rental agreement. Another renter sought help and advice from our office as their landlord refused to act on serious and urgent maintenance issues. They felt they were not confident enough to attend VCAT and feared the landlord would increase their rent if they took action. The RDRV will now offer an alternative dispute resolution mechanism for examples such as these.

Thankfully, though, these examples are not the norm. I would like to acknowledge the landlords and agents that do provide a safe and affordable home to their tenants. A close friend of mine has worked for years as a property manager within a local real estate agency. She has commented that most landlords reward long-term tenants with minimal rent increases and are quick to authorise any repairs to their properties. Some are even handy enough to go and fix the odd leaking tap themselves. The mandatory training component of the bill ensures that all real estate professionals will be equally skilled no matter how long they have been in the industry.

I commend the Labor government on providing a number of other reforms to protect the rights of Victorian renters. This includes a portable rental bond scheme. I know for a lot of renters it is always such a financial stress to pay a full month’s rent in advance plus another month’s worth of bond. Depending on the property, this could be thousands of dollars. Being able to transfer from one property to another alleviates cash flow pressure for tenants at a time when it is needed most – when you are setting yourself up in your new home.

The reforms are also making rental applications easier and protecting renters’ personal information. Simplifying application forms is really important, especially for new arrivals to the country and those I highlighted earlier with lower language or educational attainment. A standardised application process will not only save time, but it will give a clear indication of what is required to apply. Privacy protection is also really important, and given the amount of personal and financial detail needed on a rental application, it should be highly protected. It can be very similar to what is required on a loan application with a financial institution who have comprehensive privacy procedures in place. And it is not uncommon to make multiple rental applications, so a prospective tenant could be handing over personal information to many people at once with no training and no safeguards. Limiting what details agents and landlords can keep on file and for how long will better protect tenants’ privacy and data. I look forward to letting my constituents who have raised this issue know that Labor is addressing their concerns with this bill.

The simplest changes can often be the best. The opportunity to keep a pet in a rental property with written permission has been life-changing for so many. It is widely reported that pet ownership is beneficial to both mental and physical health. I have personally come across a new dog owner while at a dog park recently. She had always wanted a dog and is now overjoyed that she is finally able to have her beloved sausage dog after years in a rental property.

The bill will also reduce the ability of rental providers to unjustly increase rents by restricting rent increases between successive fixed-term rental agreements. A recent trend has seen some rental providers evict tenants at the end of their first fixed-term lease and place the property back on the market at a highly inflated rate, more than they could justify in a simple rent increase to the existing tenant. This bill will give more stability and fairness to tenants who face the unpredictability of eviction at the end of their fixed-term lease.

A further reform will ban all types of rental bidding, closing loopholes which have seen agents allow or encourage rental bidding, which puts unfair financial pressure on applicants in their attempt to try and secure the rental property. Tenants can no longer offer higher than the advertised rent or offer more than four weeks rent up-front.

I also commend the reform to extend the notice of rent increase and notice to vacate periods to 90 days to provide renters with more certainty over their leases and budget and more time to prepare to vacate. In such a tight rental market it can take a substantial amount of time to secure a new property and prepare financially for the costs that a move incurs. It is more than just the rent; it is the packing boxes, the cleaning of the property, the removalists and the time off work.

The Labor government is also supporting those looking to transition into their own home. With the release of a further $500 million from the Victorian Homebuyer Fund, home ownership is within reach for more Victorians. This additional funding will support around 3000 more Victorians into a home through a shared equity model. The fund provides eligible participants with a contribution of up to 25 ‍per cent of the purchase price of the home, with participants contributing a minimum of 5 per cent of the purchase price, and you can buy the government out at any time. Since the fund started in October 2021 Labor has supported 4251 settlements with $1.07 billion, including many Victorians who had found it particularly tough to get into the housing market. From the existing program half of participants are women, more than half are single people and two-thirds are first home buyers.

I am so proud of Labor’s investment in social and affordable housing too, with our landmark $5.3 billion Big Housing Build, which will deliver more than 12,000 homes. It was wonderful to have the Premier and federal and state housing ministers in Broadmeadows to announce $80 million to build 120 new homes at Banksia Gardens, the biggest investment in Broadmeadows history.

Kim O’KEEFFE (Shepparton) (15:33): Today I rise to make a contribution on the Estate Agents, Residential Tenancies and Other Acts Amendment (Funding) Bill 2024. The bill is for an act to amend the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 in relation to funding dispute resolution services, to amend the Estate Agents Act 1980 in relation to funding dispute resolution and advocacy services and to abolish the Estate Agents Council (EAC), to amend the Business Licensing Authority Act 1998 to facilitate the closure of the Sex Work Regulation Fund, to amend the Public Records Act 1973 to abolish the Public Records Advisory Council (PRAC) and for other purposes. The bill makes several amendments across a variety of current acts. As such, the Estate Agents, Residential Tenancies and Other Acts Amendment (Funding) Bill 2024 amends the Estate Agents Act 1980 to provide that money in the Victorian Property Fund may be used for the establishment and ongoing costs of a dispute resolution service as well as support the provision of consumer advocacy and assistance services. The funds made available will allow the government to resource community organisations to provide advocacy and assistance services to consumers on housing and property issues.

It is important to note, in reading the bill before making this contribution, that the bill contains no substantive information about the make-up of the potential dispute resolution body, nor does the bill outline the replacement or alternative avenues for the Estate Agents Council and the Public Records Advisory Council in providing industry advice to the minister. In addition, in the amendments the bill makes to the Estate Agents Act 1980 it provides that money in the Victorian Property Fund must be utilised for the costs and expenses of establishing, and the ongoing funding, operation and administration of, the provision of dispute resolution services.

From the recent Consumer Affairs Victoria annual report 2022–23, the Victorian Property Fund total trust fund revenue was just over $94 million in comparison to its total trust fund expenditure of $34 million. These are some limitations and concerns in this bill that we will be looking at for the total costs of establishing this new dispute resolution service, separate to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, known as VCAT, and the costs and ongoing expenses for the operation, administration and funding for the provision of this new dispute resolution service. This new alternative dispute resolution service, which will be known as Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria, will assist renters in residential rental by providing a service for Victorians to resolve tenancy disputes over rent, damage, repairs and bonds. We know that there can be many complex disputes from both the landlord and renter, and we do need a fair and equitable process.

The Greater Shepparton region is in the midst of a housing availability and affordability crisis. We have one of the highest rates of homelessness across the state and in fact over 2000 people on the public housing waiting list. There are minimal rental properties, and for those that do try and get a rental, either they are too expensive or they are competing with so many others. The recent land tax has had a significant impact on the landlords, and what we are seeing is properties going on the market and rents increasing. How does the government address the housing crisis by pushing landlords out of the market and increasing rent for tenants in a cost-of-living crisis?

I also wish to mention a couple whose rental property burnt down nine years ago. They are currently in a shed on that property, still awaiting accommodation. The government claims this new service will be a faster, fairer and cheaper means for Victorians to resolve their disputes, as it will enable VCAT to use its resources to address more complex matters such as disputes around termination of residential rental agreements or applications for an order for possession of rented premises. However, in the bill briefing the government provided the opposition on this bill, department representatives were unable to provide an exact answer and cost of what it would be looking at in establishing this new dispute resolution service. We do not have details of how this service will be faster, fairer and cheaper.

In addition, the other concern in this bill is what the difference will be between this new dispute resolution service and what we currently have invested in VCAT. What powers will this new dispute resolution service have in comparison to VCAT, and what effectiveness will it have in resolving such dispute matters prescribed under the relevant acts that it is able to deal with and facilitate? In addition, the bill contains no substantive information about the make-up of the potential dispute resolution body, nor does it outline the replacements for both the EAC and PRAC in providing industry advice for the minister.

The bill also makes amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 to provide that money out of the Residential Tenancies Fund may be used for the establishment and operation, including administration costs, and the provision of dispute resolution services for prescribed disputes arising under the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 and any regulations that may have been made under that act. In the recent Consumer Affairs Victoria annual report 2022–23 the Residential Tenancies Fund provided a total revenue of $30.4 million and total expenditure of $30.8 million, which as a result provided a deficit of $472,295. In addition, in CAV’s annual report for 2021–22 the Residential Tenancies Fund provided for a total revenue of $22.6 million and a total expenditure of $33.4 million ‍– again, another deficit of $10.7 million.

Furthermore, the Estate Agents, Residential Tenancies and Other Acts Amendment (Funding) Bill 2024 repeals sections 25A and 25B of the Businesses Licensing Authority Act 1998 with the intention to close the Sex Work Regulation Fund. Previously, sections 25A and 25B have been operating as a transitional provision by providing financial relief to licence-holders in relation to fees payable under the licensing scheme. Section 25A provides that the Sex Work Regulation Fund established by the now repealed section 66 of the Sex Work Act 1994 continues under the Business Licensing Authority Act 1998, whereas section 25B enables the Business Licensing Authority to refund annual licence fees to licence-holders in relation to the utilisation portion of a license period and provides for regulations to be made regarding refunds. As a result of the decriminalisation of sex work on 1 December 2023, the bill makes administrative changes to close the fund given it no longer serves its required purpose.

Lastly, the bill makes further amendments to both the Estate Agents Act 1980 and the Public Records Act 1973. Clause 10 of the bill repeals part IIA of the Estate Agents Act 1980, which will have the effect of abolishing the Estate Agents Council. Abolishing this council will no longer see this council consulting the government on policy and practices relating to the regulation of the real estate industry. As such, since its establishment, the EAC has strongly envisioned a fair real estate marketplace by balancing the interests of sellers, buyers, tenants and landlords, through serving the broader industry and having the confidence of the Victorian community. In doing so, the government must recognise the importance of this industry and not leave them behind by abolishing this council. In the explanatory memorandum to the bill it states that the decision has been made:

… to develop alternative avenues to consult on policy and practices relating to the regulation of the … industry.

The government must recognise this and not leave the industry behind in doing so.

In addition, the PRAC has played a key role in providing advice to the Public Record Office Victoria and advising the minister and administration on the act as well as promoting cooperation between the public record office and other government agencies. Clause 19 of the bill repeals section 4, 4A and 5 of the Public Records Act 1973 to abolish the Public Records Advisory Council. This bill does not provide enough detail and information and more thought needs to go into the bill. I support the reasoned amendment by the lead speaker for the opposition, Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs and member for Ovens Valley.

Anthony CIANFLONE (Pascoe Vale) (15:41): I rise to speak on the Estate Agents, Residential Tenancies and Other Acts Amendment (Funding) Bill 2024. This is a bill that contains a number of reforms across a number of consumer affairs portfolio and policy areas, including housing and rental reform, sex worker regulation amendments as they concern the Sex Work Regulation Fund and reforms around modernising the way in which we continue to engage with consumers, advocacy groups and industry through the Estate Agents Act 1980 and the Public Records Act 1973.

As a government we are absolutely committed to helping make Victoria a better and fairer place to live, learn, work, raise a family and retire in, and access to housing is fundamental to all of this. That is why we have invested $5.3 billion to deliver the Big Housing Build program. In September 2023 we released the pioneering Victorian housing statement, with a target to build 800,000 new homes over the next decade, and more recently we kicked off the community consultation on a new plan for Victoria, because we know that as demand for housing has increased, we have also seen more Victorians needing to rent in order to access housing, with more Victorians renting now than ever before. As outlined by the 2021 ABS census, almost 30 per cent of private dwellings across Victoria are occupied by renters – that is 681,419 dwellings. And according to the commissioner for residential tenancies’ Renting in Victoria report, of the people renting across Victoria, 89.7 per cent are in private residential rental properties, 1.3 million people that is, and over 11 per cent are in public housing or community housing, that is over 155,300 people. Eight of the 10 top local government areas with the highest concentration of renters were situated across inner Melbourne, including my own community of Merri-bek, where we have 36.1 per cent of renters.

As set out by the 2021 ABS census, over 25,980 local dwellings in Merri-bek are occupied by renters, equating to 38.3 per cent of local homes, which is significantly higher than the Australian average of 30.6 per cent and indeed higher than the Victorian average of 28.5 per cent of total homes that were rented across the time of the 2021 census. As we know, the most significant driver of housing and rental affordability is housing supply. That is why we are pursuing the bold housing reform, the big build, the housing statement and plan for Victoria, which I have just touched on, but it is also why we continue to drive the legislative reform that is necessary to keep renting fair for renters, including through this bill. It is a bill that builds on what are already the strongest rental protections in the country: 130 reforms that we have previously introduced to make renting even fairer via restricting rental increases between successive fixed-term rental agreements and banning all types of rental bidding. We have introduced a portable rental bond scheme to lower the cost of moving for renters, we have extended notices of rent increases and notice-to-vacate periods to 90 days, we have introduced mandatory training and licensing for real estate agents, we have made rental applications fairer and easier and we have delivered a rental stress support package of $2 million.

We have established Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria through this bill, which we will activate to assist renters and residential rental providers by providing an alternative to VCAT for resolutions of disputes over rent, damages, repairs and bonds, because we know that with more people in Victoria renting than ever before it is inevitable that the number of rental disputes will increase. This will be a service that is faster and fairer and cheaper, and it is going to be a way to resolve a range of rental disputes that will enable VCAT to use its resources to address more complex matters such as disputes around termination of residential rental agreements and applications for an order of possession of rented premises.

The amendments in this bill will be the first step in supporting the delivery of the government’s housing statement by expanding the Victorian Property Fund and the Residential Tenancies Fund to facilitate the cost of establishing this dispute resolution process and will include funding to support financial counselling services to assist renters. In this context I would like to pay tribute to a couple in my community. The Northern Community Legal Centre, which is based on Pascoe Vale Road in Broadmeadows, supports a number of disadvantaged and marginalised communities across the north, with 52 per cent of its client base being born outside of Australia. They do quite a bit when it comes to providing these clients with support for residential tenancy – bond payments, refunds, disputes, lease cessations, tenant compensation, notices to vacate, rental increase issues and rental repair issues. I would like to pay tribute to the CEO Jenni Smith and her entire team. I commend the board, whom I acknowledge, including Nicole King, the chair; Justin Barbour; Angela Bell; and the many, many others involved there. I would also like to acknowledge the community information and support service in Merri-bek, who do a fantastic job too.

The bill also contains amendments relating to the Sex Work Regulation Fund and continues to complement the decriminalisation of sex work, which took effect on 1 December 2023. The bill will close the Sex Work Regulation Fund, which was established as a trust account to support the operation of that previous sex work licensing and registration scheme. This is a world away from how sex workers were previously treated in a time gone by, which I will touch on shortly in the context of the changes to the Public Records Act 1973.

Established under the Public Records Act 1973, the Public Record Office Victoria is the archive of the state and local governments in Victoria, holding around 100 kilometres of hard copy records and 600,000 digital records dating from all the way back to 1836 to the present day. All of the staff and volunteers at PROV do an outstanding job to preserve the records of enduring value from the past for future generations. On Thursday 25 May 2023 I had the absolute pleasure to represent the former Minister for Government Services at the 2023 Sir Rupert Hamer Awards for records management held at the public records office in North Melbourne and attended by a number of distinguished guests, including former Speaker Judy Maddigan, who is the president of the Public Records Advisory Council (PRAC); Justine Heazlewood, who is the keeper of public records in Victoria; Sven Bluemmel, the Victorian information commissioner; Professor Maggie Walter from the Yoorrook Justice Commission; and former Premier Jeff Kennett, who is a patron. The awards celebrated public sector record keepers for their innovation and collaboration with PROV in identifying, preserving and accessing public records. The ceremony recognised a number of organisations for their outstanding record-keeping efforts, including the University of Melbourne, the Department of Justice and Community Safety, Cardinia Shire Council, the Department of Education and Monash Health for the transfer of the Queen Victoria hospital records and the ongoing preservation of records of women’s health across Victoria from the 19th and 20th centuries.

As stated in the minister’s second-reading speech, a decision was made last year to introduce a more flexible consultative pathway for the Public Record Office Victoria. This decision was a recognition of the complex policy challenges that increasingly interface with public record management. This includes the protection of digital assets and data management, particularly as increasingly there are cybersecurity risks as records move from physical to digital assets. The new consultative arrangement will enable PROV to more broadly engage stakeholders and will be designed around future challenges and the importance of record keeping. The minister, I understand, has met with the president of PRAC, Judy Maddigan, to discuss stakeholder concerns and alternative models and bodies. I have also had several conversations and been approached by several stakeholders, and I have conveyed all their views to the minister and her office. All PRAC members, I understand, have been invited to extend their terms until 30 June and will be consulted along with other stakeholders on alternative methods. I look forward to also engaging with my very interested community, including the Coburg Historical Society.

Preserving and drawing on our history, both good and bad, is an essential part of understanding our past, where we have come from and where we are going. In this respect, given the bill also contains elements that pertain to sex work decriminalisation, I thought it would be timely to share some of the historic records of PROV and their recently digitised catalogue that was made public as they relate to female prisoners in Victoria from 1934 to 1948 to just reflect on how far we have come as a state on these issues. Victorian female prisoners, numbers 7781 to 8051, include many who were in that era charged with prostitution – for loitering for prostitution or being considered to have ‘insufficient means’ including vagrancy and homelessness. Going through the records it is clear – the records do demonstrate – the criminalisation of poverty, which disproportionately impacted a cohort of women who at the time were trying to survive, to feed themselves and their families. Behind each charge sheet is only part of a story – a story of a woman who was a whole person and was more than the sum of their crimes or their class at the time.

Given Pentridge Prison’s women’s section in my electorate did open originally in 1933, with the women held under the charge of matrons, many of the women contained in these records went through Pentridge to be assessed, classified and held. Some of these women, who I am sure probably never imagined Victoria would one day decriminalise the very work for which they were charged during the 1930s and 1940s, let alone imagined that they would be named in Hansard, included: Fay Allan in 1939, who was charged with loitering for prostitution and sentenced to 14 days imprisonment or a £5 fine; Mary O’Dowd, who was charged with loitering for prostitution in 1934 and sentenced to 14 days imprisonment or a £2 fine; Gloria Cunningham, who was charged with loitering for prostitution in 1940 and sentenced to seven days imprisonment with a £3 fine; Murial Ward Mar, who was charged with loitering for prostitution in 1934 and sentenced to 14 days imprisonment or a £2 fine; and Olga Wilson, who was charged with prostitution in 1936 and sentenced to one month imprisonment or a £5 fine.

Fast-forward to today, in 2024 Victoria has, as we know, decriminalised sex work ensuring that sex workers today have the same protection and recognition as the many other workers in this state. But it is these records preserved by the PROV that allow us and future generations to continue delving back into times and areas that for various reasons treated different cohorts of people very differently based on their ethnicity, their gender or even their occupations, even those who were the most marginalised and disadvantaged in our community.

I also pay tribute to the great team of tour guides at the National Trust who run the incredible daily tours across the whole of the Pentridge precinct, including the many women who were processed, remanded or held there, with every team member there in Coburg very proud of their work and telling the story of Coburg really for the first time to the rest of the country and the world.

In that context, I commend the bill to the house. It is all about supporting our landmark housing statement, and it is all about finalising the decriminalisation of sex work and changes to the Public Records Act. I thank you for the opportunity.

Sam GROTH (Nepean) (15:51): I rise to make a contribution to the Estate Agents, Residential Tenancies and Other Acts Amendment (Funding) Bill 2024. I thank the member for Ovens Valley, the shadow minister, for his work on this bill. I do note in the second-reading speech, right at the very beginning, the minister in charge of this piece of legislation said:

The Victorian Government is committed to ensuring access to fair, safe, and secure housing for all Victorians.

I will present some stats, especially things from my local community on the Mornington Peninsula, that certainly dispute that. Recently Victoria saw the first annual decline in active bonds since records began in 1999. I do note the Shadow Minister for Housing, the member for Polwarth, has been at the table. We are committed to making a difference in this sector and doing everything we can to make sure that renters and tenants have every resource they need to be able to get the houses that they need. The decline in active bonds reflects an increasing challenge people face when entering the rental market. As the Shadow Minister for Youth, I note the Minister for Youth is that the table at this time, and I am sure she is hearing like I am that young Victorians are desperately looking for rentals. But they are reporting soaring prices and huge numbers of people at inspections. It is a real point of anxiety for those young Victorians trying to get into the rental market.

I also note that data released recently by the Property Investment Professionals of Australia reveal that 76 per cent of rental properties being sold, so 76 percent of those rental properties that are going back onto the market, are being sold to owner-occupiers. So of those people that are feeling the stress of this government’s land tax and deciding to take their rental property off the market, three out of every four of those properties are not going back onto the rental market. When you have got more than 2 ‍million Victorians in this state who rent and you are selling that many properties, with three out of four coming off the rental market, I am sure that is also causing extreme anxiety for renters in this state. Some of Victoria’s most in-demand suburbs are facing little to no rental supply. When you look at CoreLogic’s data, there have been record rents in February – up 10.8 per cent in Melbourne compared with a year earlier – and we know that this is a growing problem right across the state.

Too many people in my community on the Mornington Peninsula are now facing homelessness, and it is an issue that I have addressed in this place many times since I have been here. There is a growing housing crisis in my part of the world as well. My community is in desperate need of more housing support. Yes, we have a high number of short-stay rental properties, but when you look at some of the stats of what is being sold and what properties are available on the Mornington Peninsula, out of every 100 houses sold 1.1 per cent of houses, so one in every 100, is affordable based on the information released and the current salary lists. Only one in every hundred houses sold actually comes under that affordable category. This government feels that they are putting land tax onto those people that can afford it, but if you think that putting it on to those properties is going to drive them back to the rental market, adding land tax is not going to all of a sudden make an unaffordable property affordable to those that need a home.

Six towns on the Mornington Peninsula suffer housing stress higher than the national average; 35 per cent of the residents of the Mornington Peninsula are suffering rental stress; 12 per cent of homeless residents sleep rough every night, and that is the fourth worst of any LGA in Victoria; and the median rent for a home on the peninsula is now significantly higher than the greater Melbourne average, and that is up to $100 higher per week. Fewer than one in three peninsula rental properties are affordable to those on low incomes. We have a real housing crisis on the Mornington Peninsula.

My community, like the member for Polwarth’s, is being affected by the land tax increases being put on by this government probably worse than any other areas in the state. We know Victorians are said to pay more property tax than anyone else in the country, and that is according to the Parliamentary Budget Office. This year this government imposed severe changes to land tax. Anybody would know, as we know, that lowering the tax-free threshold from $300,000 to $50,000 has pretty much made almost every single property in this state that is available to the rental market – every single property on the rental market – now subject to land tax. Even last week we saw that beach boxes in my electorate were legally taxed, and those people who wanted to try to dispute their land tax bill actually had to pay the bill first to then be able to try to dispute it. I mean, it is just a ridiculous situation. We have seen that tax now being backtracked on – the tax on those beach boxes – but once those people have already paid it, how many people are now going to have to seek a refund because they got the bill, they paid it and now that bill is going to have to be repaid by the State Revenue Office and by this government?

I just want to put on the record an email I got from Robyn in my electorate on Tuesday this week. She says in her email:

It appears that the Victorian government fails to grasp the connection between their rising land tax rates and the dwindling supply of rental housing. We are personally opting to sell our rental property due to the escalating expenses associated with property investment. Our intention was to retain this property until our current tenant, who is a pensioner and has personalized the space, vacated. However, the escalating costs necessitate our decision to sell.

Despite the government’s new proposal for incentives to property investors to build rental properties, it’s challenging to place trust in them given their track record. Many feel that the government’s actions have negatively impacted Victoria, and their relentless pursuit of revenue to try and claw back its deficit is disheartening.

This is coming from people who are doing their best. You have got a pensioner renting Robyn’s house, and now because of the tax that is being put on by this government, she is going to sell it and someone is now going to be without a rental property. I ask this government to do better. Please do better for renters. Please do not keep increasing property taxes. Make this state an attractive place to invest for property investors – not for the investors, but so those properties are available to the rental market for those people that really need them.

John MULLAHY (Glen Waverley) (15:57): It is a pleasure to rise in support of the Estate Agents, Residential Tenancies and Other Acts Amendment (Funding) Bill 2024. From the outset I would like to thank the Minister for Consumer Affairs for her important work in this space and her advocacy in implementing stronger protections for Victorian renters and consumers across the economy. I would also like to give a shout-out to the minister’s team for their ongoing work to set this reform agenda in motion.

The bill before the house is a critical piece of legislation, one of many I am sure this place will be debating and passing this term, to strengthen the rights and protections for Victoria’s renters. The Allan Labor government knows that there are more people renting in Victoria than ever before, and unlike those opposite, we know it is our responsibility to make sure renters are treated with dignity and the respect they deserve.

For the benefit of the house, I thought I would take a look back through the reforms in this space. I started my research looking into the purgatory of policy inaction that was the Victorian Liberal government, and as expected, I could not find much in the way of rental rights reforms. Fast-forward through the Andrews–Allan governments and the contrast could not be clearer. I am proud to be part of a Labor government that takes action to protect and strengthen the rights of renters in this state. We know that more Victorians are renting than ever before, and it is incumbent upon us to take action. Back in 2021 we passed 130 strengthened protections for renters into law, improving the process of renting every step of the way from before the paperwork is signed to when the bond is paid back. Some highlights of the package of reforms included stronger antidiscrimination provisions, maximum bond amounts and limits to rents paid in advance, plus the rent increases capped to once a year. We introduced mandatory new minimum standards and expanded the definition of ‘urgent repair’. These 130 rental reforms ensure that Victorian renters can make their house a home, giving them and their landlords peace of mind.

It is important work, and I am proud to be part of the Allan Labor government that has made it a reality. But in doing so, we recognise that there is always more to do. That is why we have published the Victorian housing statement, which charts the course for the next decade across planning reform, housing construction, investment into social housing and, most relevant to the house today, strengthened rights for Victorian renters. It is a bold plan because we know the pressure Victorians are under when it comes to housing and housing affordability. If we do not take decisive policy action, that pressure will only grow as Victoria’s population soars beyond 10 million in the coming decades. It is why we will be using every lever available to government to create the conditions for the construction of 800,000 homes over the next decade. Whether it be streamlining planning decisions to make good decisions faster, building more housing close to jobs and amenities, investing in social housing or strengthening the rights of renters, there is no shortage of work before us.

I am proud to be part of the Allan Labor government, which is committed to doing the work and getting results for Victorian families. The Estate Agents, Residential Tenancies and Other Acts Amendment (Funding) Bill 2024 before the house today is the first piece of the puzzle. It is critical, with more Victorians renting than ever before, that the Allan Labor government takes action to strengthen renters rights. That is why we will ban all types of rental bidding and close the loopholes to make it illegal; we will restrict rent increases between successive fixed-term rental agreements; we will make rental applications easier and increase privacy protections; we will strengthen regulation of real estate agents, property managers and owners corporations; we will make rental bonds portable, rather than renters having to pay a new bond time each time; we will increase the notice required for rent increases and evictions to 90 days; we will deliver a $2 million rental stress support package; and we will create Rental Dispute Resolutions Victoria to make it faster and easier to solve issues and disputes. Put together, these changes are about protecting Victoria’s renters and making the system fairer and more reliable for all Victorians.

In particular I would like to focus on the creation of Rental Dispute Resolutions Victoria. The bill that is being debated before the house is crucial to achieving this goal. With more Victorians renting than ever before, we know that the number of rental disputes has increased, and of course that process is stressful, expensive and time consuming. For many renters the cost of this process adds to the already increased cost of living. The way the system currently works means that VCAT is often the method of first resort for resolving rental disputes, but it really should not have to be like that. Renters should not have to end up in a protracted VCAT case to get simple repairs done or have their bond returned. That is exactly why we are establishing Rental Disputes Resolution Victoria – to make dispute resolutions faster, fairer and cheaper for Victorian renters and landlords.

The bill before the house today makes amendments to the existing legislation which governs the Victorian Property Fund and the Residential Tenancies Fund, the two pools of money which underpin the state’s investment in rental dispute resolution services. In short, it will allow the Allan Labor government to use these funds to establish and operate Rental Dispute Resolutions Victoria. That is great news and a positive step towards meaningful change to Victoria’s rental dispute resolution landscape so that Victorian renters and rental providers have access to these dispute resolution services that they need and deserve. Quick, affordable, proportionate access to justice in these situations matters deeply, and I am proud to be part of the Allan Labor government, which is committed to these rental dispute reforms.

But more than just these reforms, I am proud of all the work being done to realise the aims and ambitions of Victoria’s housing statement. Whether it be the Minister for Consumer Affairs, the Minister for Planning and Minister for the Suburbs, the Minister for Precincts and Minister for Development Victoria or the Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, there is a power of work in this space. We recognise that having an affordable, secure and reliable roof over one’s head is the top priority for all Victorians, and I am proud to be part of a progressive government that takes this issue seriously and is willing to grapple with the complex policy reforms needed to take meaningful action for Victorians.

I know that there are many speakers in this house who would like to speak on this bill, so for that reason and for many more, I commend the bill to the house.

Martin CAMERON (Morwell) (16:04): Acting Speaker Lambert, it is good to see you in the chair up there. I rise today to talk about the Estate Agents, Residential Tenancies and Other Acts Amendment (Funding) Bill 2024. Firstly, I would like to thank the member for Ovens Valley for his lead on our side of the house over here. It was great to just be able to sit down and talk to him about the actual amendment and what it is all about. I note we are not opposing the bill today, I think for a very good reason also. I do note there is a reasoned amendment that goes along with it.

The purpose of the bill is to put some more protections in place for our renters, and I think that is a good thing. You get the play-off between the landlords and the renters, and you do hear of some horror stories on both sides, but hopefully putting this in place will give speedier access to some resolutions moving forward. Now, the purpose of the bill is to amend the Estate Agents Act 1980 and the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 to allow the use of the Victorian Property Fund and the Residential Tenancies Fund to establish a fund to fund the ongoing costs of a new dispute resolution and advocacy service, which we have heard about today, which is going to be called Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria, or RDRV, as many have spoken about.

With the rental side of it, there are a lot of people down in the Latrobe Valley that are lucky enough to own their own homes. Also there are a lot of mums and dads that own a second property and rent it out. There is a huge appetite for rental houses in the Latrobe Valley, as there is right across Melbourne and right around the state. In saying that, in setting up this new body we can actually fast-track – I think that is one of the words that I can use – and short-circuit, hopefully, these disputes that come up all the time when you are renting and when you are a landlord.

There are around 64,000 cases as of March 2023 – so 12 months ago – which are sitting in VCAT at the moment, and probably by now, after another 12 months, that would have gone up. The Liberals and Nationals do not have a specific position on the establishment of RDRV. We are happy for it to go ahead, and we can see the merits in that; however, we remain committed to working with the sector to improve the housing concerns of renters and tenants, which include reducing this backlog, because it is a long process.

In my time spent as a plumber I worked in a lot of these rental properties, and there were always, when you went into the houses and spoke, issues going on – and issues that had been going on for two, three or four years. That is not good enough for anybody, whether it be leaking toilets, dripping taps or, in winter, your roof leaking. If you are trying to provide a safe house over your head for your family, you expect it to be up to scratch. Yes, we do have renters that do not do the right thing, and this is why we have these disputes, but on the same side the landlords need to make sure that if there is an issue and it is unacceptable, it can be fixed. A lot of the time it is done through the real estate agents, and the maintenance on these houses and units is done. But unfortunately sometimes, when there is a little bit of butting of heads between the owner of the building and the renter, it ends up going to VCAT. As we can see, if you have got 64,000 cases in front of your case, it really does take time to actually march through that process to get the resolution. So in having this new body, we would like to think that those cases will go down.

I do note that when the member for Ovens Valley was talking he was hopeful that the cases would not just be shifted from VCAT – if we use that 64,000 number there – and put into the new body, with them saying, ‘Well, we’ve done our bit, and we’ve actually reduced the cases in VCAT.’ We do not want to shift the blame and park it again. I think the government are very genuine about being able to work through the disputes that are on offer to get that number down, because at the end of the day we all want to have a roof over our head and make sure our families are safe.

In the Latrobe Valley we also do have a problem with people that are waiting to get into properties. A lot of them, we find, are sleeping rough, and it is not just a single person. It is sometimes families that are sleeping rough. They can be couch surfing around at friends’ houses or they can be living out of their cars, so we need to make sure that we have got the supply of rental properties no matter where people live around the state of Victoria, whether it be here in the city or whether it be around regional Victoria.

There is a process to go through to acquire a property if you are a renter. There is a long checklist that you do get from the real estate agent, which is very time-consuming to move through, and when you have multiple people – and I am not meaning one or two but there are 10 or 20 people actually trying to bid, if I can use that word, for that rental property – it does make it difficult for these families to gain access to that property. Anything we can do to streamline all of this really is going to make it a lot better.

When I was working in rental properties, one of the big issues which came up was mould on walls and on ceilings. A lot of houses are older houses, and anyone that does have allergies and mould affecting them and making that allergy worse will know, if they have that allergy, that they are going to end up at the doctors and need medication, and the way to stop it is to actually fix the problem of the mould or otherwise move on from the property. A lot of people are not putting their hand up to move on, because there are no other properties for them to shift into.

In my time as a plumber, a lot of it was from leaking roofs, whether the tiles were cracked or the roofs were in a little bit of disrepair. You would go in and the service agents would come in, and they would paint over the mould but they did not get rid of the mould. That was one of the big classic examples of why things would end up at VCAT. It would look nice on the wall that was freshly painted, but within a couple of weeks it was back. So we need to make sure we have got these safeguards for our renters and also for our landlords as well.

I know the member for Nepean talked about land tax and how it may take these properties off the market because the mums and dads that have that second property that they rent out and rely on for an income for themselves are selling up. We need to make sure that we can keep the amount of houses in supply and do it that way. I am not going to read through the reasoned amendments, but I think they were pleasing. The regulatory bodies that they did contact thought that the proposal was really good but it was just lacking some finer details of how it was all going to work, when it would start and things like that, just basic information on what the actual bill and amendment was going to do. To see some clarification on that would be great.

With your indulgence, Acting Speaker, before I wind up – and I know that I said before, we do not oppose – just on a personal note, it is my mum and dad Fay and John’s 60th wedding anniversary today, so I will be leaving here tonight and heading home to see them. Sixty years being married is a massive effort. Mum, as mums do, is probably at home watching, so to Mum and Dad: love you heaps, and happy 60th wedding anniversary.

Sarah CONNOLLY (Laverton) (16:14): I rise to speak on the Estate Agents, Residential Tenancies and Other Acts Amendment (Funding) Bill 2024. I am actually going to make my contribution quite personal today, because I absolutely love getting up in this place and talking about life as a renter in this state and the fact that this government, the Allan Labor government, has the back of renters, including folks like me, my husband and my two children.

I want to talk a bit about our experience of what it is like to rent, and every now and then I think, ‘Thank God the government has done something to ensure that homes like the very average house – I will be polite today, the very average-type house – that I am renting at the moment, for probably a very overpriced weekly rental amount I do have to say, are improved. That is something I think our government has worked towards improving, and I can see improvements in the house that I am renting. This house has been a rental house for some time, and I can actually see within the house improvements that have been made – it is an older house – in alignment with the rental reforms that we have been making since we came to government almost 10 years ago.

This bill does act on a significant step of our government’s housing statement by allowing for the use of funds to create – and by God, this is important – a new dispute resolution body for rental disputes. I feel like if there were more renters in this place – and do I note that the member for Sandringham is the only one here on his side, including any members from the Greens, listening to and participating in this incredible debate, this really important debate. There are so many renters in Victoria, but I do give brownie points to the member for Sandringham for sitting through this and listening, as I am sure he is not a renter. But this is really important, right? This is the sort of stuff that renters across the state are talking about at barbecues and neighbourhood get-togethers, about the state of rentals and rental standards here. Indeed our government time and time again has brought bills before this house to improve the standards and the homes that folks like me and many, many others are currently living in and will go to bed in tonight.

Now, thanks to our government, no-fault evictions are banned in Victoria. We made that market fairer for folks with pets – like me. I know that my two-year-old naughty beagle Ringo Starr does deserve his own Instagram page. He is such an exciting, cheeky beagle. But indeed as renters we are able to have a pet in our lives with the amount of enjoyment and love that that pet provides, not only for me when I need a bit of comfort at the end of the week after a tough week at Parliament but also for my children in being able to look after such a lovable, cute fur baby as Ringo Starr. That is a plug for probably a new Instagram page that I will set up quite shortly for him. On top of this – and this is just so important; as I said, we are paying far too much for the very average, very well loved, over-loved home that we are living in at the moment – we have gone ahead and actually capped rent increases to once a year.

In fact when you look at the improvements to rental rights that were discussed at national cabinet last year, really importantly, you can see that many of the agreed-upon resolutions were actually things that Victoria had already done and gone ahead and implemented, and that is the absolute joy and true importance of having long-term Labor governments. That tells us that Victoria is once again leading the nation. I know that we like to say that, and it is a good problem to have in this place when you get to say it time and time again. I wonder how many times it has been said today; I have heard it quite a few times. I think in total we have made about 130 different rental reforms since coming to government in 2014 – 130 different rental reforms since coming to government in 2014 – and we are a government that has been in power for nearly 10 years. That goes to show the state of play when we came into government in 2014 that actually existed here in Victoria. We have had 130 different rental reforms. But the really great news about our government is we are not actually stopping there. There is more to do, and we are getting on and doing it, and that is because people like me and many, many renters across the state are speaking out about the state of the homes that they are living in, the experiences that they are subjected to, the interactions they have with landlords and other things. There are a lot of stories to tell. I would love to tell all my stories here, but I am not sure I would have a rental property by the end of the week. Who knows? But I do have to say there is more to do. We are listening to renters, and we are getting on and we are doing it.

Our planned reforms will see all forms of rental bidding banned, thank God, stopping landlords from inflating rental prices by exploiting the desperation of a family looking for a place to rent. We are introducing a new portable bond system which tenants can take with them when moving between properties. That is really handy because, gosh, we pay a lot of bond, and it can be difficult to get back. Sometimes there is a bit of disagreement between renters and landlords about what has happened at the property in moving between places. Renters can now take their bonds with them between properties.

We are also – and I love this – tackling dodgy practices in the real estate and property management industry. The real estate and property management industry in my experience – I would probably say I have been renting now for about 2½ years – are no friends of renters, and that has been very unsurprising. We are ensuring those responsible for engaging with tenants and landlords are actually doing the right thing through mandatory licensing and, most importantly, a training requirement. I have no idea what these people were doing before that training requirement was put in, but I do know that it is certainly a very good thing and folks like me benefit from it.

Of course what we are discussing today is a new dispute resolution body just for rental disputes, because what we know is there are a number of renters here in Victoria and sometimes there are disputes, and we need them resolved quickly. Also, I would say this is a really big step forward in creating a fairer rental market. There can be gross inequality between renters and landlords.

As everyone knows, the way the system currently works is that if you have got a problem with a rental property, whether it is something as simple as trying to get a landlord to pay for a broken appliance – we had the situation where our dishwasher would not work. I would like to say it was me, but my husband in my house was doing all of the dish washing. After about three weeks of contacting our agent, saying, ‘Mate, we need to get a guy in to check the dishwasher,’ he truly had a bit of a hissy fit or spat the dummy one night when he was covered in soap suds and he was sick and tired of having to send text messages to the agent, who is actually a really lovely guy. I am sure it was indeed the landlord who just could not be bothered to organise or pay for someone to come in and fix the dishwasher. Like I said, we were, and still are, paying a lot of money in rent for a property that was not what we thought we would be signing a contract for to go ahead and rent. One of the issues for renters is that you cannot very well go in and look at a property and switch on the dishwasher to see if it works or switch on all of the lights or switch on all of the fans or switch on the air conditioning to check if they work, even though that is probably doing your due diligence. You never know what the state of the property will be like when you sign the contract and you pay, I am estimating, around $5000, $6000, $7000 to move all of your stuff into the property, only to find out that it is not really fit for purpose. Then you have got to fight your landlord and fight your agent to have something done.

In the 50-odd seconds that I have got left I will say this is a really great bill. We have made 130 reforms, and we are not stopping there. We are going to make sure that disputes are heard by the right people and are heard quickly and resolved quickly so both renters and landlords can get on when there is a dispute. This is a really important bill. We have had in my time in the past six years a couple of different ministers who have felt really passionately about rental reform and have really engaged with caucus members like me. We might be few and far between, renters on this side, but I would say that we are far greater in number than renters on that side, including the member for Sandringham. I do want to thank the minister for bringing this before the house this sitting week. I commend the bill to the house.

Brad ROWSWELL (Sandringham) (16:24): I rise to address the Estate Agents, Residential Tenancies and Other Acts Amendment (Funding) Bill 2024. It is important to get the name of the bill 100 per cent right. I rise also today in support of the member for Ovens Valley’s reasoned amendments and agree wholeheartedly with the reasoned amendments moved by the member for Ovens Valley. Although, as indicated by other speakers on behalf of the opposition, we will not be opposing this bill.

I would have thought that something that everyone in this place can agree upon is that we want to get more Victorians into better homes – not just any homes, but better homes – as soon as we possibly can. I would have thought that there is broad agreement in this place that a roof over your head provides Victorians not just with that – a roof over their head – but with the safety, security and stability that they need to be a net contributor to our community. I would have thought that that would be the founding principle that anyone who puts their hand up to be a member of this chamber would agree upon. Where the disagreement is, of course, is how we get there, and in the last 10 years the Labor government of this state has had a pretty good opportunity to put us on a better footing and put us in a better place than we currently are in relation to housing.

I am concerned that through the course of broader debate on the topic of housing there have been members of the government who have sought to pit one part of the ecosystem of housing against the other. One day developers are bad, the next day rental providers are bad – I believe that for us to fully solve this problem to fulfil that stated policy intent of getting as many good-quality roofs over as many heads of Victorians as we possibly can, pitting one part of that ecosystem against the other just really is not productive. What we do need is for every part of this ecosystem to be working together hand in glove with the government, because I would like to think that our purpose in doing so is to get as many people in as many houses as possible.

I am concerned that, as recently reported by Fairfax press, there have been a number of rental bombs dropped in Victoria for the first time. On 17 March this year a journalist named Kieran Rooney from that august publication the Age, which, as its masthead says, is independent always, said that:

The number of homes being leased in Victoria has fallen year-on-year for the first time since records began, while the number of new rental properties hitting the market has also plunged.

Again, the Labor government have had a decade to get this policy setting right, to get as many Victorians into as many good-quality homes as they possibly can, and I am concerned that Mr Rooney has reported these figures – these figures that are coming out from a government agency itself, these figures that are coming from the government agency Homes Victoria. I am quoted, generously so on the part of Mr Rooney, in the article – can I quote myself? Is that like speaking in the third person? – as saying:

In the almost 12 months following Labor’s latest property tax hikes in last year’s budget, rents have continued to climb, vacancy rates have plummeted, and critical investment continue to be driven interstate.

The point I was trying to make in offering that reflection to Mr Rooney was simply this: I believe that you do not tax your way back to prosperity. I believe that adding additional economic impacts and additional economic burdens upon frankly any part of the housing ecosystem at this time is going to have a negative impact on delivering that policy goal, that policy aim, which is to get as many high-quality roofs over as many Victorian heads as we possibly can.

But that is not the experience of the government. That is not the example and the action of the government, who only in their last budget of May last year increased land tax and made changes to land tax which are negatively impacting rental providers, so much so that they are taking their rental properties off the market, increasing the demand for rental properties, increasing the amount that renters are paying for rental properties and potentially decreasing the quality of properties on the rental market as well.

My view is that we should be incentivising rental providers to stay on the market at a time when they are experiencing their own cost-of-living issues. Something I would like to call out, if I may, is the view that people who own a second home are rich, that they must be rich. Nothing could be further from the truth in many cases. What those rental providers own is not a second property; what they actually own is a second mortgage. And what they are trying to do is, sure, make a return on their investment but also provide another Victorian with the ability to have a high-quality roof over their head. Those are the people, those are the Victorians, that I believe and I contend are being punished because of the policy settings of the current Labor government.

I was also curious to read in another august publication, the AustralianFinancial Review, Gus McCubbing report on 4 March this year: ‘Tax rise “last nail in the coffin” for Victorian property investors’. Again, we need to be not punishing different parts of the property ecosystem here. We need to be incentivising and encouraging every part of the property ecosystem here if we are going to make an impact on the lives of Victorians. There is a property manager here, Carmen Littley, who says:

… she has lost 52 investor clients since the Victorian government targeted landowners –

rental providers –

with extra levies in its budget last year, which she describes as the “final nail in the coffin” for many owners.

She warned that property investors leaving the market would further hit rental stock because owner-occupiers tend to have fewer people in a house than renters, which could potentially further increase asking rents.

Again, you have got to take care of every part of the ecosystem here, you cannot just take care of some parts of the ecosystem. You cannot punish some parts of the ecosystem and expect that there will be a better outcome. It just does not work like that.

I think that Victorian rental providers should not be punished by their government. I think that they should be encouraged by their government. They should be incentivised by their government to do the right thing by not selling their rental properties, by not divesting themselves of an interest that is being taxed more and more by the Labor government, but being incentivised to keep their property on the market as a rental property for the medium to long term in the middle of a housing crisis. I am confident that if the government did adopt such a policy setting, that would encourage more rentals to remain on the market and encourage properties that are not currently rentals to enter the market to make life easier for Victorians and to have a positive impact on current rental prices, which have been increasing. I think that encouraging better behaviour is much better than punishing good behaviour people who are willing to invest in property at this time.

I would encourage the government to consider it. I would encourage the government to consider the reasoned amendment moved by the member for Ovens Valley, which very sensibly calls on the government to prove that this bill, the Estate Agents, Residential Tenancies and Other Acts Amendment (Funding) Bill 2024, will not disadvantage renters, will not disadvantage rental providers and will give everyone a fair go.

Lauren KATHAGE (Yan Yean) (16:34): I am really pleased to rise to speak on the Estate Agents, Residential Tenancies and Other Acts Amendment (Funding) Bill 2024. What I love about this bill is the way it cuts straight to the chase in setting up an alternative dispute resolution process for renters and for landlords, because contrary to what the member for Sandringham says, this is not about punishing landlords, this is about ensuring people’s rights. That is why I am so glad that this dispute resolution process is good for renters and good for landlords. That is fantastic.

I think we all have a story about a difficult situation with a landlord, and if we do not, we have heard of them. I was paying electricity for the neighbouring property that the landlord also owned, and what did I do about it? Nothing. I did not do anything about it, because I was intimidated by my landlord. The process was too complicated and overwhelming, so I just copped it because I wanted to keep living there. I have had a constituent speak with me about her situation, where in her rental property she has solar on the roof. But it is not connected, and the landlord is refusing to connect the solar, which would result in cheaper bills.

Everyone has got a story; not all those stories, though, should end up in VCAT. There are better places to resolve issues such as these, and I am so glad that our government is going about setting up that more appropriate mechanism. It will mean faster and cheaper outcomes for people, and it will be less intimidating. I am really, really proud of that. It just makes sense for our government to do that, because this is the government with the strongest rental protections in the country.

Just as the member for Broadmeadows did, I want to acknowledge all the good landlords that we do have in Victoria that do provide a safe and comfortable and affordable home for people who require one. Contrary then to the member for Sandringham, we are not anti landlords, we are pro renters rights. If you see those as being against each other, as being contrary, then that demonstrates where your interest lies, and it is not in protecting people’s right to a safe home.

Those strong rental protections that we have here include things like being able to have a pet and a vegetable garden. We have had a bumper crop of tomatoes at my place this summer, chutney to last for years. Everyone should have the right to make overly sweet chutney at home or to hang a painting. School photos have come back already this year, and I would love to put my daughter’s photo up, and I can, because I own my home. Renters should be able to put their cute child’s picture up on the wall as well, and I am so glad that our government has made it possible.

I am also really proud of the five-year tenancy agreements that were established – and I think that that has an important link to the recent announcements about cracking down on rent increases or evicting people at the end of 12 months and putting the rent up; I will come back to that later – as well as our prior improvements capping rental increases to once every 12 months and all the safe electrical standards, the need for blinds, heating and all of those fantastic improvements to renters rights that we brought in. Actually, last year we also in this house spoke to a bill that improved rights for people with disability in rental accommodation, to make sure that they had the same rights as other members of the community as well, a very Labor thing to do.

But we know that not everybody is happy about these things. We heard earlier this week from the member for South-West Coast. When she was speaking on this bill she explained about how the equilibrium is off. I was talking before about how if you see renters rights and landlords rights as being opposed, as being a zero-sum game, then you would speak in those terms, as if the equilibrium is off. But actually an increase in renters rights is not a decrease in landlords rights, because everyone is required to provide a proper standard of housing for people.

This concept of people being punished, which the member for Sandringham was speaking of earlier, just does not stack up. It just does not stack up. But it is always like those ads with ‘But wait, there’s more’. It seems like every bill that we introduce is always part of a broader sweeping reform that we are methodically working through, and it is no different with this. I have gone over the changes that we have made in the past, but I am really excited about a couple of the coming changes, including the portable rental bond scheme, because that was always very tricky for me as a younger woman between tenancies and needing to find a little bucket of money to get into the next place before the last one was released. This is going to make a real difference to so many people. If you imagine families who rent, who are under cost-of-living pressure, if their tenancy was coming to an end at the same time that they needed to be buying bigger school uniforms and bigger shoes for the kids before they started school, it would just be an absolute nightmare. I am glad that we are taking away that pressure and that worry for families who rent so that they can focus on the excitement of the start of the school year and things like that rather than worrying about where they will find the bond.

Acting Speaker, I do not know about you or others in this place, but on community Facebook groups ‍– they are not somewhere I spend a lot of time – I have seen just a heartbreaking surge in people asking for help to find rental accommodation. The end of their first 12 months has come, and the rent has gone up so much that they cannot afford it. Where I live is where people have already moved to, out and out and out as rents increase further in the city, and once they get to where I live and the rent becomes unaffordable, then they are at the very edge of what we consider to be Melbourne. Certainly in speaking to the local food bank they have noted the increase as well. They have seen a very big increase in the number of single mothers that are coming to them for help and who are in situations relating to being unable to afford the house they have been living in for the previous 12 months, so how fabulous that our government is going to restrict rent increases between successive fixed-term rental agreements.

When tenants get to the end of those first 12 months, sometimes they have not even unpacked all the boxes by then. There are things left in the cupboard maybe, but the kids feel safe and happy in their bedroom, they have made it their own, your daughter’s picture is up on the wall. But then you get towards the end of the first 12 months, and lo and behold the landlord wants to put the rent up by such an astronomical amount that you simply cannot afford it anymore. We are stamping that out. What we are going to do is ensure that if they do put the first tenant out after 12 months, they need to offer the property at the same rent for at least 12 months. That removes the incentive for landlords to move through renters by evicting them and continually increasing the prices. The member for Sandringham might be happy that I used the word ‘incentivise’ because he was looking for incentives for landlords. I hope that they will appreciate that one, and I am sure that it will have a good impact on renters.

I see this as being related to that earlier reform I spoke about, which was setting up five-year leases in our previous things, so just giving that certainty to families. You know, you move in somewhere, maybe your child is in grade 2 – well, they are going to see out primary school in the same home. They are going to walk the same route to school, their friends are going to come over to the same house and I just think that is really important. It is just one example of the excellent initiatives from this government that are improving the lives of renters.

Daniela DE MARTINO (Monbulk) (16:44): Acting Speaker Lambert, it is wonderful to see you in the chair. I rise with pride to speak on the Estate Agents, Residential Tenancies and Other Acts Amendment (Funding) Bill 2024. As many have already noted, the primary purpose of this bill is to support the delivery of our government’s housing statement by expanding the use of the Victorian Property Fund and the Residential Tenancies Fund to fund an alternative dispute resolution service, including Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria, as well as funding a range of advocacy and assistance services. I say hallelujah to that, because up until now VCAT has been far too difficult for some to access. Some people just decide not to go down that path, because it feels too hard, and any alternative dispute resolution service that we create to make it easier for people renting to be able to find a pathway forward without it feeling insurmountable is to be commended 100 per cent.

This bill will amend the Estate Agents Act 1980 to enable the Victorian Property Fund to fund the establishment and the ongoing costs of alternative dispute resolution services for disputes arising under consumer housing and property acts, including the Residential Tenancies Act 1997, and to support the provision of those advocacy and assistance services. As my colleagues have noted, last September we issued a housing statement, and I have to say when I saw that, when I read it – I believe I can speak for all of my other colleagues here – it felt like a wonderful moment when we made a stand to do everything that we possible can to address this housing issue that we have here in Victoria. It is not just limited to our state; it is a nationwide problem. But I have to say that I am not entirely sure that other governments are tackling it with as much vigour as we are here.

Our housing statement was developed to account for the fact that we are the fastest growing state in this country. Our population is going to be over 10 million by 2051, which is astounding. That is an incredible exponential figure. I was reflecting, when I was thinking about this, about my time as a renter. Many, many years ago my then fiancé and I rented a little apartment in South Yarra. It was the cheapest one. I know it was the cheapest one for Kay & Burton as agents because when we went in there and asked for a list of available rentals we started from the bottom of the list and worked our way upwards. We did not go much further than that one because that was all we could afford at the time on very humble salaries. Mike was managing a pub at the time and I was working in an entry-level admin role in recruitment, and that is all we could afford. The reason we picked that location was so we could walk to work, because we could not even really afford my very, very, very humble car. I could use another word, but it would probably be unparliamentary. It was a bomb. It was a true bomb.

A member: It probably had a name too.

Daniela DE MARTINO: It did. Her name was Reno, named after the lead singer in Anything Goes. There you go; there is a story behind that. I will not go into that this time, but I am sure one day it will all be made apparent.

A member: Go Reno!

Daniela DE MARTINO: Go Reno! Well, the car was a bomb and so was the flat. It matched the car. And we had a gas leak. One day I came back and I thought, ‘I can smell something not great. I can smell gas.’ Then I worked out we had a gas leak. Luckily, I had some wherewithal. I had a father who had taught me once about where the mains gas was and how to find it, so I ran down to the bottom and I switched off the mains. It left us without the capacity to cook for a few weeks. No-one at the real estate agent at the time said, ‘Do you know that you are actually entitled to claim back the rent you’ve paid for that portion of the room of the flat?’ There was a bit of a formula for it. They did not bother to tell me, but luckily I had a friend who was informed and actually told me that. With that information from them I went to the agent, and funnily enough, repairs were made quick smart at the time.

At the time I did not think ‘I’d better not raise my head above the parapet’ as much as I probably would now. That is why I think having alternative dispute resolution services is incredibly important, because it will give renters greater assurance that they have a pathway forward, because there are some pretty shocking landlords out there. And there are some great landlords too. I will not cast everyone in the same light; life is all full of nuance and shades of grey.

I have some friends who have gone through some particularly awful scenarios in the last year alone. A dear friend of mine who is in her early 60s, as a single woman, at two successive rental places she was told, ‘Oh, you have to leave because the owner’s moving back in.’ A year after the first one, no owner had moved in. She kept driving by just to see if anyone was there, and the windows were shuttered for 12 months. There is a lot that goes on here, and we are doing our best to support those in these situations, because people have the right to shelter. I do worry a little bit that the right to shelter, the right to a home, is sometimes superseded by some others’ desire – or right, in their mind – to increase their wealth, and I think that sometimes there is a competing interest there.

I was listening to the member for Laverton’s contribution with great interest on her experience of renting, and it was really positive to hear that the changes that our government has made have had an impact. She has actually seen and experienced that impact in real time in her life, and that was wonderful to hear – despite the dodgy dishwasher. My sympathies on that one, because my dishwasher just packed it in last night, and I know I am going home to a whole stack of dirty dishes.

Sarah Connolly interjected.

Daniela DE MARTINO: Yes, I will use gloves; thank you, member for Laverton. There are so many things. I was listening to the member for Yan Yean and her contribution, and the portable bond is so important because trying to scrape together the money for the next bond can be prohibitive. It can really hold you back from finding the next place, which tethers you to somewhere that maybe is less than ideal for your situation. It is incredibly important. All the work that we are doing is always done through the lens of improving people’s lives and for those who most need us to govern with their interests at heart. That is why I am incredibly proud to be part of this government. I know that it is practical and it is pragmatic, but it has always got a big heart in every decision it makes.

I do want to actually address something, though, that the member for Sandringham raised in the article in the Age. The figures from the December 2023 quarter were quoted in that article, and I think it is important to note that data from Homes Vic has had further exclusions applied to it. It has included removing the rooming house bond numbers. which has actually led to a fall in the overall numbers, because you have taken out a chunk there. I just want to make it really clear that while there has been a slight decline in the bond numbers for the first two months of this year, the overall trend actually remains increasing in bond numbers in Victoria, so it is not as that article may have painted it, because at February 2024 the bond numbers for rentals were higher than at the same time in the previous year. That is a really important statistic that I would like to ensure is on the record here today, and I will give you the specific numbers. On the Homes Vic site you can see that the February 2024 bond count is 737,926. The February 2023 bond count was 729,954, and at very quick blush that is a difference of about 8000. We had 8000 more rental bonds in February this year than we had in February last year, in summary, and that is a positive, positive figure indeed.

I am aware that there are only a few seconds left on that clock, so I just want to touch on alternative dispute resolution. I just want to come back to it. The importance of this cannot be understated. For people to know that there is a path that does not require going through the process of VCAT gives them assurance. It also puts landlords on notice that people are more inclined to use this, and hopefully that will mean more constructive discussions between them to find a resolution with minimal fuss and stress for those involved. I commend this bill wholeheartedly to the house.

Bronwyn HALFPENNY (Thomastown) (16:54): It is really good to stand up here talking on and in support of the Estate Agents, Residential Tenancies and Other Acts Amendment (Funding) Bill ‍2024. As with many of the speakers on this side, I really understand and support the need for renters to have proper rights and protections in order for them to live good lives in rented properties. Sometimes I think those that oppose any tightening-up or any sort of regulation around the quality of housing that it is expected that a person renting should have, and those sorts of things, often seem to have this attitude that a landlord is actually doing a renter a favour. But in actual fact that is not the case. They have actually got that house as an investment, and they are making money off that house, whether it is through tax breaks or the actual income that is taken from the house. That is the reason why we have landlords. They are not there for the benefit of the community and the renter. In saying that, I am not saying that all landlords are terrible either, but certainly this is a business proposition, not a charity or a welfare proposition on the side of the landlord.

We do need tough laws and proper regulation to ensure that there are protections. Of course in some instances there also need to be protections for landlords, and that is where I think the Allan Labor government really is finding that balance and doing the right thing for all sides. While there has been lots of legislation over the years while in government to protect the rights of renters and also clarify the responsibilities and obligations of landlords, this piece of legislation builds on that. As an amendment bill there are a few things that it is amending, but in the case of real estate, this is about providing a mechanism by which there can be an alternative dispute resolution system. We all know, and I am getting lots of residents telling me, that if they have got a rental dispute and go into VCAT, it takes many, many months there because there is such a backlog. The good thing about this, we hope, is it will set up this new fund and also a system for dispute resolution in particular for the rental housing industry. Also this legislation provides the mechanism by which that system would be funded, as well as other assistance and advocacy work for renters and landlords. This is good legislation.

I have been to visit properties in the electorate where people are renting, and they have been absolutely appalling, the conditions in there – stoves that do not work, holes in the floor. So it is really important that we do have proper strong laws. I guess the only other issue is that sometimes the renter is too frightened – I know other speakers earlier were talking about that – to report inadequacies because they are worried that they may not have their lease renewed. Of course you do not want to be moving every year or every 12 months. You have a home. You want to put your own things in it. You want that made in such a way that you are comfortable and you are familiar with it. There are a lot of memories there. We want to make sure also that renters are protected when they do enforce their rights, and I think the Allan Labor government is continuing down that path.

Sadly, renting is increasing rather than ownership of the home. In the past people might be surprised to know that the electorate of Thomastown had one of the highest rates of home ownership in the whole of the state, and this is changing. There are increasing numbers of people renting because of course wages are lower and the amount of wage required to purchase or to even get a deposit on a house is becoming unattainable. This is good legislation.

There are a few other things that we are doing as well. When we talk about amendments to law, the world is changing. Things change, and we always have to keep legislation up to date. One example is that we passed much better sex work rights way back a few years ago, and now we are required to close that regulation fund because of the change in the system and the ability to expand –

The SPEAKER: Order! The time set down for consideration of items on the government business program has arrived, and I am required to interrupt business. The house is considering the Estate Agents, Residential Tenancies and Other Acts Amendment (Funding) Bill 2024. The minister has moved that the bill be now read a second time. The member for Ovens Valley has moved a reasoned amendment to this motion. He has proposed to omit all the words after ‘That’ and replace them with the words which appear on the notice paper. The question is:

That the words proposed to be omitted stand part of the question.

Those supporting the reasoned amendment by the member for Ovens Valley should vote no.

Assembly divided on question:

Ayes (51): Juliana Addison, Jacinta Allan, Colin Brooks, Anthony Carbines, Ben Carroll, Darren Cheeseman, Anthony Cianflone, Sarah Connolly, Chris Couzens, Jordan Crugnale, Lily D’Ambrosio, Daniela De Martino, Steve Dimopoulos, Paul Edbrooke, Eden Foster, Matt Fregon, Ella George, Bronwyn Halfpenny, Katie Hall, Paul Hamer, Martha Haylett, Mathew Hilakari, Melissa Horne, Natalie Hutchins, Lauren Kathage, Sonya Kilkenny, Nathan Lambert, Gary Maas, Alison Marchant, Kathleen Matthews-Ward, Steve McGhie, Paul Mercurio, John Mullahy, Tim Pallas, Danny Pearson, Pauline Richards, Tim Richardson, Michaela Settle, Ros Spence, Nick Staikos, Natalie Suleyman, Meng Heang Tak, Jackson Taylor, Nina Taylor, Kat Theophanous, Emma Vulin, Iwan Walters, Vicki Ward, Dylan Wight, Gabrielle Williams, Belinda Wilson

Noes (28): Brad Battin, Jade Benham, Roma Britnell, Tim Bull, Martin Cameron, Chris Crewther, Gabrielle de Vietri, Wayne Farnham, Sam Groth, Matthew Guy, David Hodgett, Emma Kealy, Tim McCurdy, Cindy McLeish, James Newbury, Danny O’Brien, Kim O’Keeffe, John Pesutto, Tim Read, Richard Riordan, Brad Rowswell, Ellen Sandell, David Southwick, Bridget Vallence, Peter Walsh, Kim Wells, Nicole Werner, Jess Wilson

Question agreed to.

Motion agreed to.

Read second time.

Third reading

Motion agreed to.

Read third time.

The SPEAKER: The bill will now be sent to the Legislative Council and their agreement requested.