Rental reform
Tim READ (Brunswick) (14:21): My question is for the Premier. Too many Victorians have to move house every year because of out-of-control rent rises. Lack of rent control seems to embolden some landlords to raise rents as high as they like. The ACT, along with a dozen or more European countries, Japan and Singapore, already has some form of rent control, and it is not a radical idea to treat housing as a human right rather than an investment so that renters do not have to live in fear of eviction in the form of an insurmountable rent rise. So what is stopping the government from setting caps on rent increases?
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:22): I thank the member for Brunswick for his question. Of course one of the ways – the key way – to deal with affordability for renters is to build more homes. I will take from the member’s question then, if he is so focused on supporting renters, that he will tell his Greens political party colleagues in this place, in the other place and in every council chamber around the state to stop blocking the building of more homes. We see that from the Liberal Party; we would hope to see a different approach from the Greens political party.
The other way to support renters is to bring more investment into more housing projects. That is why the Minister for Planning has been very, very busy approving more and more housing projects worth billions and billions of dollars of business investment to our state. That is also about building more homes and particularly homes that are purpose-focused on the build-to-rent market. Indeed not only is Melbourne the biggest city in the country; it is the rent-to-buy capital of the country because of the regime that the Treasurer has put in place that has seen this business investment be attracted to this state to have more build-to-rent properties in this state.
The member went, in his question, to caps. I have lost count of the number of times in this house I have answered this question from a representative of the Greens political party. I will say it again – the member referred to overseas examples: the evidence from overseas is that it does not work. I would have thought that a group of people who are part of a political party that says it is evidence-based would sit back and look at the evidence. If we look at the evidence, it tells us that it does not work. But what will work is the legislation that we introduced into the Parliament just yesterday. I know I cannot anticipate debate on the notice paper, but building on the 130 rental reforms that we are implementing already, we are bringing new legislation to the Parliament to deal with excessive rent rises – to deal with this matter. I thank the Minister for Consumer Affairs for listening to renters, working with the community and working on legislation. Maybe the member for Brunswick in his supplementary question can indicate his party’s support for this important piece of legislation so we can get on and provide more support for renters, because we know that the rental market has to be fair for everyone and we also know we have to build more homes so more renters can have more opportunities to have a roof over their head.
Tim READ (Brunswick) (14:24): If I had a house for every time that a small number of Greens councillors have been accused of causing the housing crisis, it would be solved by now. Unreasonably high rent increases act as evictions in disguise, and they often come soon after renters ask for their protected rights, like minor repairs and maintenance. The question is: why does this government continually prioritise investor profits over the right of vulnerable people to have a roof over their heads?
Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:25): I am going to send the member for Brunswick a copy of the housing statement we released last year and a copy of the bill, which I understand has already been second read into the Parliament today, but I will send someone from my office around with a copy and pop it into the office of the member for Brunswick, because we have already announced that we will ban no-cause evictions. We have already said this. We have also recognised that it is unfair for renters who want to make sure that the properties that need those simple repairs get them. We had Loris yesterday join us when we were announcing the introduction of this bill, who spoke really strongly about why it is so important that when you move into a new property you have the things that most of us probably take for granted – that the dishwasher works, that the light when you turn it on works – working for you as a renter. That is why we are focused on making renting fairer. The rental market has to work for everyone, and we will make sure the member for Brunswick gets some extra information.