Thursday, 13 November 2025

 Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (18:14): I rise to speak on the Consumer Legislation Amendment Bill 2025. I think what we have got to do is really picture what the faces are behind the state that Victoria is in. I am picturing a young family standing at a service station late at night, the dad checking his phone on the new government fuel app, hoping that that locked price might keep the budget steady for one more week so he can pay the budget. He watches the numbers flicker, fills the tank and then drives to the nearest food bank. This is the reality and unfortunately will be the reality for many Victorians and many families in this state. At the same time, a renter reads that under this new scheme she can transfer her bond more easily when she is moving house. It will not make the rent cheaper, it will not lower the rising power costs, it will not stop the letterbox from filling up with bills. She is looking at a casual job in retail. It will not stop the cost-of-living crisis, but what it will do is give her some certainty around it. These are the faces of the state under strain.

This is Victoria in 2025, where working people carry the weight of the government promises that never quite reach them, and I do not think there is any better example than what we just heard in this last petition debate. We were told that the government’s new fuel app would make petrol cheaper and that the bonds underwriting scheme would make renting fairer. We were told yet again that more bureaucracy could resolve the cost-of-living crisis – or relieve it at least – which this government is largely responsible for causing. But in Victoria we have been told many things. I think that what we know for a fact is that often when the government gets involved, the problem does not go away, the problem gets worse. Victorians have been told that the tolls that they are paying would fund better roads, yet we saw what happened over the weekend in Nar Nar Goon. Regardless of the fact that Sonja Terpstra does not seem to believe that it even happened, the fact is that one pothole caused over 20 cars to be damaged and to be pulled over on the side of the road. Victorians have been told to trust the government, while the government dumps over 200 annual reports on one day, covering up billions and billions of dollars of cost overruns.

While the opposition will not oppose this bill, it is our job to set the record straight, to make sure that Victorians understand what these measures do and what these measures will not do and to help explain and understand what truly drives economic pressure in the real world, not just the talking points from Spring Street. I have heard a lot of things, speaking about the potholes before and speaking about how apparently the state Labor government has an incredible commitment to safer roads and to all these sorts of things. We have heard all sorts of stories, and I think that Victorians are at the stage where they do not trust them and they do not believe it, because what the government refuses to admit is simple: every new scheme built on borrowed credibility and every new guarantee without grounding adds more bureaucratic weight to a state that is already being crushed under the weight of what it already has. You cannot keep building policy on promises when the foundations – sound management, fiscal discipline and common sense – have already been eroded like they have in the state of Victoria.

I am going to start with the first aspect of this bill, which is the new government fuel app, one of the headline measures that is part of what creates this bill. Its plan does not set fuel prices, it does not cut fuel taxes, it does not increase competition and it certainly does not fix the roads that push transport costs higher and higher. Under the bill’s fair fuel plan, every fuel retailer must lock in prices each afternoon, a price cannot go up for 24 hours and that information is then fed exclusively into the government’s new fuel app through its state-run Service Victoria. It gives Victorians 24 hours of certainty, but it does not in any way, shape or form lower the prices of fuel. I think that is very important for us to acknowledge. But private apps actually already exist that do essentially the same thing. They work efficiently, competitively and – what I believe is most important to us – at absolutely no cost to the taxpayer. And unlike the proposed government app, they rely on live, open data or crowdsourced information.

Under this bill, those independent apps will actually be locked out of live access for a full 24 hours. The government app will become the only platform with real-time information. By contrast, in New South Wales, where the FuelCheck system operates, all fuel prices are updated every 30 minutes and made immediately open to all similar apps. That means every servo, every app and every motorist can see and respond to the prices in real time. Competition remains active, stations can drop prices instantly to attract customers and consumers can genuinely shop around. If the goal of this government is transparency, why on earth would they be blocking information sharing with other apps that already exist and that already essentially do what this government app sets out to achieve? Yet this government is insisting on building its own app, monopolising information and using taxpayer dollars to tell Victorians what they already know and can already access: that fuel in Victoria is extremely expensive because everything is taxed extremely highly – more highly than any other state in this country – and that people are being crushed by the cost-of-living crisis.

This side of the house supports transparency and information for consumers, but we also believe in calling it out when policies are purely window-dressing and when policies address symptoms rather than the cause. Real cost-of-living relief does not come from a government app, especially when there are already private apps that essentially do the same thing. Real cost-of-living relief comes from tackling the drivers – like global oil prices, fuel excise, transport logistics, rising commercial leasing rates and the poor state of Victoria’s infrastructure. When fuel prices rise, there is a ripple effect throughout the whole community. As the prices at pumps climb, the cost of freight climbs, the cost of food climbs and the cost of housing climbs. The farmer pays more to run a tractor, and the truck driver pays more to deliver and move goods like milk and food. Every kilometre travelled on our crumbling roads costs the end user something.

Yet this government’s answer is another app, another office and another slogan: ‘Locked prices. Fair prices. Savings for all’. ‘Savings for all’– that is the slogan – regardless of the fact that this will do nothing to bring down the price of fuel in the state of Victoria. There is no real modelling and no evidence, just a claim of $333 in annual savings. Where that figure has been plucked from is anyone’s guess. I really do not know where they plucked that figure from, when it is actually a new app that apparently cost something and when there is new bureaucracy that costs something. Yet they are claiming savings.

I want to point out that while WA’s FuelWatch has been in place since 2001, it has only provided price certainty, not affordability. The ACCC confirmed that it did not lower average fuel prices. This fairer fuel plan is not real innovation, it is imitation – and the worst sort of it, because it lacks an understanding of the key cost drivers, which makes this a sales pitch for voters rather than a genuine attempt to make Victoria better for families that are struggling under a cost-of-living crisis.

The second measure within this bill is of course the government’s guaranteed bond scheme. Essentially, this bill allows the state to underwrite private rental bonds, allowing renters to transfer one bond to another property without waiting. While we acknowledge that many will see the goodwill behind the idea and it will make rental transitions smoother and reduce disputes, we must be honest and talk about what it really is. It is a taxpayer-funded guarantee that turns renters into possible debtors and a public department into a possible debt collector. That is what it is.

Everyone should be wary of the government underwriting anything. Every hour in this state we pay a million dollars in interest alone. We are not even knocking a dollar off the debt we owe – it is just on interest. When it comes to managing risk, the government does not manage it, it just keeps creating it. Look at our debt. Our debt is astronomical, and I think just looking at that really tells us everything we need to know. There is another important comparison, I think, and that is the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority – what was once a building insurance safety net is now a sinkhole. In fact 103 government agencies are in deficit and the public sector wage bill is up $4 billion – $4 billion in a single year. But back to the VMIA: the taxpayer-funded building insurer underwriter is riddled with mismanagement, repeatedly bailed out to keep it afloat and an operation that looks now much more like a Ponzi scheme than a public safeguard. Hundreds of home owners were left stranded after builder collapses, especially Porter Davis, waiting months, sometimes years, for claims. This is what happens when the government steps in as guarantor without accountability. They do not manage risk, they multiply it. A government that cannot fix a road – and cannot admit when a road needs fixing, more essentially, with what we saw today – should not be trusted to run a fuel app. A government that cannot even settle insurance claims should not be trusted to underwrite private bonds. If it cannot be trusted to balance its own bills, it should not promise families financial relief that it cannot deliver.

We also need to look at what is going on under the surface with ordinary renters, not just with bonds but with overall financial capability to pay their debts. One in three bond settlements involve deductions or full claims by landlords – one in three. Nearly $847 billion is now owed in unpaid fines; 1.2 per cent of mortgages are in arrears; there is a 14 per cent rise in personal insolvencies – that is devastating, 14 per cent; and there is a 70 per cent surge in renters seeking help for arrears. I have mentioned a few times that in the Eastern Victoria Region there is such a housing crisis, such a rental crisis. Because of the new and increased taxes that have been brought in by this Labor government, it is becoming more expensive to be a rental provider in the state of Victoria than anywhere else in the nation. So in Pakenham, for instance, there are at least 20 families waiting for one house that comes up, per one rental property, and then of every four rental properties that go on the market only one of them comes back. The data is clear. People are fleeing this state because it is so expensive to do business in this state. It is so expensive to pay land tax in this state.

Ann-Marie Hermans interjected.

Renee HEATH: Yes, you cannot even get into a doctor. It is so expensive. It is more expensive to grow a tomato in Victoria than it is in any other state in the nation. These numbers are not just statistics, they are like warning lights on a dashboard. How will the government chase them for money that they do not have? How will it happen? These are questions that need to be asked. This scheme relies on renters having the financial capacity to repay despite worsening economic conditions. Unless bonds are returned in high numbers, arrears are low, disputes are rare and repayment is high, this model will keep bleeding more and more taxpayer dollars.

Our citizens, the people of Victoria, are so overtaxed. They have got more of a tax burden than any other Australian. Every child born in Victoria inherits a greater tax burden than a baby born in any other state. I think we have to be seriously careful and we have to be seriously looking at government overreach to make sure that we are not making life worse for Victorians. If landlord claims keep rising, shifting the payment and cost burden to the state, then the taxpayer at the end of the day is going to be the one footing the bill for all of this.

So we could risk that something that is designed to help people, something that is designed to reduce the cost-of-living crisis, something that is designed to make fuel more accessible and something that is designed to make rentals more accessible could in fact end up costing Victorians more and more. Unfortunately, the figures also tell us that Victorians are at breaking point, unable to pay existing bills and unable to absorb new costs. If you had been in here and looked around the gallery before, you would have seen everyday Victorians that came in on a Thursday night in their own time to protest a new tax that has been put on Victorians once again by the state Labor government, because they cannot afford it. It is a tax that disproportionately affects farmers, that disproportionately affects volunteers, and they came in to protest it because Victorians are feeling crushed under the weight of this government’s tax burden.

When a government agency with a record like the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority’s decides to underwrite yet another liability, it does not just risk its own budget, but it risks blowing another huge black hole in the state budget, which is almost $200 billion in debt. If there is a surge in unpaid bonds under this scheme, the taxpayer will ultimately bear that cost. If the pattern of rent arrears spills over to bond repayment in arrears, recovery will fall short, and when that happens it will not be politicians that pay. There is no cost-of-living crisis in this chamber. It will not be us that pays, it will be the people of Victoria. What I want to point out is that while this government wants to give an illusion that it cares about the cost-of-living crisis, it in fact actually has created it, and Victorians are the ones that are paying the price.

Both measures, the government fuel app and the bond underwriting scheme, come from the same mould. I think it is short-term headlines, short-term applause and long-term risk – I really do believe that. They were both born of looking at election cycles, not looking at the next generation – looking at what is coming next at the end of next November, rather than the burden that it will place on the next generation. This is what this government is doing. It follows a familiar pattern that we have seen around the world, the same playbook used by the socialist and activist movements, promising everything under state control, but never explaining who will pay for it. Recently we have been hearing about government-owned supermarkets, something I am sure that my colleague and I will have very different views on. We have seen in places like New York government-owned supermarkets, but what freezing prices does, according to the research, is end in more shortages. More government intervention means more tax burden.

In ending, Victorians need relief – that is absolutely real – relief grounded, though, in real-world and sound economics, relief that repairs, rewards work, encourages competition, supports small business growth and business growth in general and builds confidence to invest and employ. I truly believe what Victoria needs is people to feel confident in it once again. People have lost confidence in Victoria. Rental providers have lost confidence. The international sports community has lost confidence in Victoria. Investors have lost confidence in Victoria, and only that confidence and people investing in the state once again and building that economic turnover, building revenue, making people prosperous again, will actually be able to solve this problem. Relief gives young people hope and not a false comfort of dependency, but an opportunity for them to rely on themselves. Real relief does not come from government expansion, but it comes from government discipline. Victorians do not need another promise. They do not need another guarantee or another headline timed for the next election.

The opposition will not oppose these measures, but we want to set the record straight, because Victorians deserve honesty about what drives their costs, where their money goes and how real relief is achieved. Fairness is not found in forms or apps or government underwrites. It is found in good economic management, sound priorities and respect for the people that keep the state moving. And it is those people, the working men and women of Victoria, that we are on the side of and that we will continue to stand for.

 Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (18:35): I rise today to speak in support of the Consumer Legislation Amendment Bill 2025. After years of campaigning by renters, by community advocates and by my Greens colleagues we are finally seeing some long-overdue reforms that will make life fairer for people who rent their homes. These changes are a testament to the persistence of renters who have refused to accept a system that is stacked against them. For too long renters have lived under a housing system that privileges landlords and real estate agents – a system that treats housing as an investment opportunity rather than a basic human right.

This bill includes several long-awaited improvements that respond to the growing public demand for stronger renters rights. A key reform in this bill is the introduction of a portable bond scheme, a change first promised in Labor’s 2023 housing statement. It will allow eligible renters to transfer their bond between properties rather than paying a new one up-front while waiting for the previous bond refund – been there – because waiting for your bond, while needing to pay for a new one, costs thousands of dollars, which many people simply do not have, especially when faced with record high rents and growing economic inequality. This reform will give renters some breathing room. The bill also strengthens fairness around bond disputes, requiring landlords and agents to provide evidence before making a claim. For too long tenants have lost bond money over exaggerated or frankly baseless claims, often for normal wear and tear. Under these new rules landlords will need to justify their claims. This will bring some much-needed transparency and accountability to a system that has too often been abused.

The bill also expands safety requirements, ensuring that all rental agreements, new and existing, meet gas and electrical safety standards, and that gas checks occur within six months before draughtproofing work. These reforms will ensure that tenants can live in safer homes. The strengthening of mandatory professional training for real estate agents is another welcome inclusion in this bill. Giving the government power to approve or reject training providers and set ongoing education standards will help lift professional conduct across the industry. The majority of renters have endured, at worst, discriminatory, predatory behaviour from agents and, at best, incompetence and apathy. Hopefully this measure will begin to curb such behaviour. The bill also makes it illegal for agents to charge renters for background checks as part of applications – a small step in protecting renters from unnecessary and unfair costs. It also empowers Consumer Affairs Victoria to publish clear guidance for landlords and rooming house operators on what records they must keep to prove compliance with minimum standards.

[NAME AWAITING VERIFICATION]

Beyond the rental reforms, this bill does also introduce new provisions for petrol stations, requiring them to report their daily maximum price. I guess now we will know in real time how much we are getting screwed over. So, there is that. People will probably use it though, let us be clear. In many cases here we are talking about incremental reforms. What we need to see is broader action to tackle the full scale of this economic inequality crisis that we are facing in this state. A core issue remains: rents are rising faster than wages, and renters are shouldering unsustainable financial pressure – like Kate, a renter in Ivanhoe in my electorate. Three months ago their rent went up by 40 per cent, despite a list of outstanding maintenance issues like missing bedroom doors, a garage door that will not shut and a broken oven. Kate is not her real name, because she does not feel safe disclosing her real name. We are hearing from renters all over the state, of people being hit with rent hikes of hundreds of dollars a week – often just after requesting repairs. These increases are being used as tools of intimidation. Unlimited rent rises are in practice forced evictions, and yet this bill does nothing to limit rent increases. Landlords can still raise the rent by any amount they choose, with no justification. Until we place reasonable limits on rent increases, renters will continue to live in fear of retaliation whenever they assert their rights.

Meanwhile this Labor government is continuing its plan to demolish all 44 public housing towers across the state, displacing thousands of people and putting public land in the hands of private developers. It is a policy that deepens housing insecurity and shrinks the supply of homes people can actually afford. In September this year we saw reports that tenants living in so-called affordable housing in Flemington under the ground lease model had copped a 17 per cent rent increase within the first year of moving in, pushing their rent to a point where it was no longer affordable, forcing them to move out. Labor wants to push this privately run affordable housing lottery model as the future of housing in this state. The ever-diminishing amount of public housing in Victoria is a major driver of the broader rental affordability crisis, making it harder for renters, forcing people on lower incomes to scramble for a home to rent that will no doubt push them closer to poverty, and that is if they can even find and secure a home. Everyone in this state deserves a home that is safe, that is stable, that is affordable. This bill makes progress towards that goal, but we still have a chasm that lies ahead of us, which is why I will be moving amendments. I ask that they be circulated now.

These amendments will ensure that rent increases in Victoria are fair, that they are reasonable and that they are tied to what people can afford. They will set a maximum allowable rent increase to be no more than the annual wage price index for Victoria as published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the previous financial year. If your wages are not going up, neither should your rent. For too long renters have been at the mercy of unlimited rent increases that bear no relationship whatsoever to wage growth or inflation. These amendments will make sure that rent increases are capped in line with real-world income growth, not landlord profit expectations.

I am also moving an amendment that will require the government to publish Victoria’s annual wage price index on a public website each year so that renters and landlords alike can clearly see the limit that is applied. This is a straightforward, fair and transparent measure that brings balance back to this system, ensuring that rent rises reflect real-world economic realities, that renters are no longer priced out of their homes simply because wages have not risen at the same rate as this inflated housing market. My Greens colleagues and I support the Consumer Legislation Amendment Bill 2025, but we will keep fighting to make unlimited rent increases illegal. We will keep fighting for public housing, and we will keep fighting for a future where every renter in this state can live with dignity, security and respect.

 Jacinta ERMACORA (Western Victoria) (18:43): I am pleased to speak on this bill. This bill is all about helping Victorians with cost of living. The fair fuel plan will address transport costs, which affect households everywhere. Wherever you live, whether it is Warrnambool, Werribee or Warracknabeal, you should not have to pay more than is necessary just to get to work or drop your kids off at school.

We have already delivered the first phase of our fair fuel plan through the Servo Saver feature on the Service Victoria app. Launched on 15 October this year, Servo Saver is a simple idea that makes a real difference. Under these new laws all fuel retailers must report their prices in real time online, and it will be an offence not to report a change within 30 minutes. Those prices are then fed directly into the app, meaning drivers can see exactly where the cheapest fuel is in their area or along their route. The ACCC has already told us that if motorists filled up at the lowest point of the fuel cycle and shopped around, they could save up to $333 each year. That is hundreds of dollars back in family budgets, money that can go towards groceries, school supplies or paying bills.

The second phase of our fairer fuel plan, and a key feature of this bill, is the fuel price cap. The bill amends the Australian Consumer Law and Fair Trading Act 2012 to make sure that once a retailer sets their daily maximum price, it cannot go up for 24 hours.

Another key feature of this bill, which I am very pleased to mention, is the introduction of the portable rental bond scheme. This bill introduces a landmark reform for Victorian renters by delivering a portable rental bond scheme. This reform is a key cost-of-living initiative in the government’s 2023 housing statement, which will create a fairer, more accessible and more modern rental market. One of the most significant hurdles for renters when moving between rental properties is the prospect of needing to pay a new bond before their old one has been returned. This double bond situation has for too long placed unnecessary stress and financial burden on renters. The new portable bond scheme fixes that. It allows renters to transfer their existing bond from one property to the next, saving them on average $2,360 when they move. It is not surprising more than 736,000 households are expected to benefit.

The bill continues further to make renting fairer, safer and more modern by requiring landlords and agents to provide evidence before making a bond claim. Renters will now get that evidence at least three days before the claim is lodged, and failing to do so will be an offence. It bans background check fees. Some agents have been charging up to $30 for checks that tenants do not need to pay for. It expands gas and electrical safety checks to all rental agreements, regardless of when they were signed, ensuring every renter is safe at home, and bans rent payment fees, including charges on rent tech apps. Paying rent should not come with a surcharge. It tightens professional standards by updating compulsory professional development requirements for property professionals, ensuring training keeps pace with industry standards.

I will counter my colleague Mr Puglielli a little bit in terms of the rental increases. There were some changes by this government in 2021 when we put through that you cannot raise rent more than once in every two years and you have to be able to justify it if it is questioned in VCAT. That is a powerful way of restricting rental increases that might be flagrant and unaccountable. Each of these reforms are simple, fair and grounded in the belief that renters deserve respect and safety, not hidden fees, not unsafe homes and not unfair treatment.

In conclusion, it is clear the Consumer Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 is designed to make everyday life fairer and more affordable through practical action, using technology, transparency and good policy. It is another good step forward in building a fairer Victoria for all, and I commend this bill to the house.

 Tom McINTOSH (Eastern Victoria) (18:49): I am delighted to stand and speak to the Consumer Legislation Amendment Bill 2025. It is another great example of how Labor governments make people’s lives better across a whole range of spectrums. We have just heard from my colleague Ms Ermacora about what it is going to mean for people with the cost of living when it comes to putting fuel in their car. We will now require all fuel retailers to report their fuel price in real time, and it will be an offence to fail to report fuel price changes within 30 minutes, so motorists will be able to see where they can get the best deal and save themselves money. There are a number of things Labor governments will always do, will always advocate for and will always deliver on, and that is ensuring consumers are getting safer products. We have seen over many, many decades that those opposite, the conservatives, the Liberal Party, take a hands-off-the-wheel approach.

They were all doing student politics at university, studying Thatcherism and Reaganism. That is their view, whether it is wages and trickle-down economics, whether it is consumer goods and having no concern or regard for the safety of products for end users, for kids. You go back and look at discussions around putting seatbelts in cars – by goodness, they were against that. So I am sure they do not have the values underpinning a plan that would lead to policies to see consumers getting a better deal day in, day out. You know what happens when that occurs? You get lower cost of living, and when you have got lower cost of living, people, families, communities, have more money floating around for essential services, for goods, and we get stronger communities.

I am really proud of what will be the 150th reform in rental fairness. The portable bond scheme is coming in, and it is a really good, commonsense simplification for renters and Victorians. Again, for consumers in Victoria, whatever they are purchasing, whatever their interface with consumer goods, it is always a Labor government that will deliver goods that they can depend on being safe and will ensure there are consumer protections. If the goods are not safe, if the goods are faulty, there is a mechanism there to see them get justice in that situation. I will leave my contribution there. I am very proud to be part of a party that in its DNA, in its fabric, is committed to seeing consumers get the best possible outcomes for themselves, whether it be the safety or the quality of the goods they get or indeed the price they pay for things such as fuel.

 Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (18:52): I am very pleased to be here in this spot to rise and speak on the Consumer Legislation Amendment Bill 2025, which is yet another example of the way that the Allan Labor government is supporting Victorians, particularly those who need help with the cost of living. That is what the amendments in the fair fuel plan in this bill do. I want to commend the work that particularly Mr Staikos has done in delivering on that agenda. But I want to spend just a couple of minutes of this contribution tonight talking about the very significant changes in this legislation that are part of the Allan Labor government’s continued reforms to make renting fairer in Victoria.

Here in this bill tonight we have the measures that will support the introduction of our portable rental bond scheme. We know that around 30 per cent of Victorians are living in rental properties. There are more and more renters here in Victoria than ever before. The Labor government has for the past several years been absolutely focused on suite after suite after suite of reforms that are about making renting fairer in Victoria, and today this legislation helps with the portable bond scheme. The portable rental bond scheme will mean that renters will not be stuck having to have paid two bonds at once, which is a practical change that makes a real difference in people’s lives, particularly for those who do not have the capacity to find $1000, $2000, at short notice to pay a new bond when they are moving out of a place and waiting for their bond to be returned. This was announced, obviously, as part of our housing statement in 2023. It enables us to ease one of the significant financial burdens that many renters face. What it will enable renters to do is to access a scheme where bonds can be transferred between rental properties, and there is a series of provisions in there to account for things that may be called on in that bond. But fundamentally, I think for most renters, the transition between properties has had that unnecessary and costly and troublesome burden of having to find two amounts of bond payments, and this will resolve that. It is a win–win for the renters but also for the rental providers, who will not have to spend as much time on bond management and will get bonds guaranteed by the government.

The rest of the bill makes other significant changes to our renting scheme here in Victoria, adding new protections for our renters by requiring rental providers and their agents to provide renters with evidence to support a bond claim three days before the claim can be lodged. We are making it an offence with penalties for a rental provider or their agent to make an application to VCAT without supporting documentary evidence. Many renters speak about how their bond has been withheld for no good reason, and renters have been told this is for damage to a wall or a floor, but no evidence of the damage is provided or receipts of the repair attached. We are stopping the culture of rorting renters here in Victoria. We are mandating requirements for evidence if there is damage, and we are imposing penalties for people who want to continue to do the wrong thing. It is part of our amendments to redress and reset the power imbalances between renters and rental providers and to enable renters to better challenge unfair bond claims.

Additionally, we are banning charging fees for background checks. We are expanding safety checks on rental properties to include those in all residential agreements, regardless of when the agreement started. We are banning extra fees that you get charged when you pay your rent, including on rent tech apps, because being charged fees just to pay your rent is not fair. And we are amending the continuing professional development reforms for property industry professionals.

This bill is just another example of the series of reforms that the Labor government has made to make renting fairer in Victoria. It is absolute evidence that Labor is on the side of renters in Victoria, and I commend the bill to the house.

 John BERGER (Southern Metropolitan) (18:57): I stand to speak in support of the Consumer Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 introduced into Parliament by the Minister for Consumer Affairs in the other place, which will bring in protections and reforms across multiple sectors, including the fuel market, the rental market and the property and housing market, to ensure that Victorians are getting the best deals on their fuel costs and that they are being treated equitably and fairly when engaging in the rental and housing sectors. Before I speak further on the bill I would like to thank the Minister for Consumer Affairs for bringing this bill forward as well as key stakeholders involved in consultation on drafting this piece of legislation.

The specific actions of the Consumer Legislation Amendment Bill are, as described, to acquit the Victorian government’s public commitment to implementing a fair fuel plan by 2025 by delivering phase 2 of the plan, which introduces a requirement for fuel retailers to report the maximum fuel price – that is, the fuel price cap – for each type of fuel they sell for the following day; to give effect to further rental reforms announced as part of the housing statement and reforms announced on 30 October and 19 November 2024 to better support Victorian renters and improve compliance with rental minimum standards; and to make amendments to the housing statement reforms enacted by the Consumer and Planning Legislation Amendment (Housing Statement Reform) Act 2025, the housing statement reform act, relating to continuing professional development requirements for property professionals. This bill reaches across several pieces of legislation and impacts multiple sectors, with the goal of each change implemented being to protect Victorian consumers in activities that impact their daily lives and to increase transparency and access.

This bill was informed by consultation and engagement with key stakeholders over all three key areas, with phase 2 of the fair fuel plan being consulted on from August this year as well as the legislative impact assessment and the bill itself. Key organisations impacted by this bill, such as Energy Safe Victoria and Homes Victoria, have been involved throughout the process of drafting this bill, ensuring that these records now required from rental providers and rooming house operators do not lead to unnecessary cost, confusion or regulatory burdens, particularly regarding requirements on gas checks before draught proofing.

In 2024 the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics published a report that determined the number of registered motor vehicles on Victorian roads to be approximately 5.5 million in January of 2024. With Victoria’s population in 2025 totalling a little over 7 million, this would certainly suggest that fuel costs matter to a significant portion of Victorians. This bill will make amendments to the Australian Consumer Law and Fair Trading Act 2012 requiring fuel retailers to publish maximum fuel costs for the following day and maintain this capped price as reported. It will be an offence to sell fuel for any price over the fixed cap the next day. Daily assured maximum price capping means predictable pricing, avoiding sudden spikes or unforeseen increases.

This was announced by the Premier and the Minister for Consumer Affairs back in January as part of the Allan Labor government’s fair fuel plan, which will require around 1500 fuel retailers across the state to report their prices each day. These prices will be available for public viewing through a new Service Victoria fuel finder feature. This is a small change that could help Victorians save several hundred dollars per year. In fact the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission found that in 2023 motor vehicle drivers in the Melbourne metropolitan area could have saved up to $333 if they were able to identify lower price fuel retailers and fill up their tanks at the lowest point in the fuel price cycle. But for many Victorians who have got to get up early in the morning to drop their kids off at school or head to the office or their work sites, this is an undertaking that just is not feasible or realistic. That is why the Allan Labor government is bringing in these new regulations as well as this fuel price reporting scheme for ease of public access for Victorians to get the best deal on their fuel costs and save an extra couple of hundred dollars each year. While commercial fuel price reporting sites do exist, they can often be limited in scope or contain biases that promote fuel retailers that might not be the cheapest option, but this new Service Victoria feature will serve to consolidate mandatory price reporting. With that, I commend the bill to the house.

 Lee TARLAMIS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (19:01): I move:

That debate on this bill be adjourned until the next day of meeting.

Motion agreed to and debate adjourned until next day of meeting.