Bills
Consumer Legislation Amendment Bill 2026
Second reading
Debate resumed.
Jade BENHAM (Mildura) (18:20): In my 2 minutes, which I will use, given that I was afforded 30 minutes to speak on this, I will wrap up by recapping the 178 clauses that are in this omnibus bill, which I have titled now a Swiss cheese model bill because of the amount of holes in it. But it does teach us a simple lesson, and that is that safety does not come from pretending that every layer is perfect or that it is well and good or that there are not holes in it. It comes from identifying those holes, adding some safeguards and preventing the weaknesses that come with it or at least acknowledging those first. As I have said before, this bill has worthwhile layers – it has consumer protections – but it also has lots of holes. It has lots of areas that will have unintended consequences, which I have outlined. It had a consultation process as well that did not adequately test the detail. And in some cases not only did they not test the detail but they did not consult with certain stakeholders before presenting the bill to said stakeholders and informing them that this was how it was going to be. There is drafting that can often obstruct willing transactions – that vagueness that I was talking about. It has deposit reform that relocates the risk rather than removing it and makes it messy. There are residential park charges without sufficient statutory guardrails that will lead to higher cost housing in what is ultimately affordable housing for senior Victorians. There are licensing consequences that can confuse civil disagreement with misconduct, compliance duties – that is it. That was quick.