Thursday, 6 March 2025

Bills

Consumer and Planning Legislation Amendment (Housing Statement Reform) Bill 2024

Second reading

Debate resumed on motion of Harriet Shing:

That the bill be now read a second time.

Sheena WATT (Northern Metropolitan) (10:07): President, thank you for the call and the chance to make a contribution to speak in support of the Consumer and Planning Legislation Amendment (Housing Statement Reform) Bill 2024, a significant step forward in making Victoria’s housing system fairer, safer and more accessible for all. At the heart of this bill is a clear message that the Allan Labor government is committed to making renting easier, fairer and cheaper.

We know that for many Victorians renting is not just a temporary arrangement; it is home. A home that I, along with the Allan Labor government, am committed to protecting. With over a third of Victorians renting and that number only set to rise, we have a responsibility to provide strong protections that offer security, dignity and fairness in our rental system. This bill represents the next step in delivering on our commitments under the housing statement that the Allan Labor government delivered in 2023 and the additional reforms introduced late last year in our more homes, more opportunity package. It is about strengthening protections for workers and for renters, improving housing security and tackling cost-of-living pressures.

Let me take this opportunity to be very clear to the chamber that our housing reforms are about making life better for every Victorian, whether it is families trying to buy their first home, young people searching for a fair go in the rental market or vulnerable Victorians in need of a safe place to call home, this is about real people, real lives and real change. This is about building more opportunities, not blocking them. This bill tackles a range of issues that renters face every day. Let me talk to them right now. We need stronger rental controls, because significant rent hikes can be as bad as an eviction for those who cannot afford them. We are tightening the rental increase review process to ensure fairness and introducing a longer notice period – 90 days instead of 60 – for rental increases and evictions. There are fairer leasing rules with no more no-cause evictions. If a renter is asked to leave, there must be a valid reason.

We have got safer rental homes in that properties must meet rental minimum standards before they are advertised so renters are not stuck with unsafe or unlivable conditions. So often you go to an inspection and you are made big promises about what will be fixed afterwards. That is over now because those minimum standards must be met before properties are advertised. There are also some privacy protections, and this is one that I feel especially strongly about. Renters’ personal information is too often collected, stored and misused. We are introducing strict rules on how rental applications are handled, including penalties for failing to protect renters’ data.

Rental bidding – oh my goodness, do I hear from constituents about this one – we have banned it. There are no more hidden bidding wars that drive up rents unfairly. Agents and landlords will be banned for accepting offers above the listed price, and we will introduce tougher penalties for agents and landlords who break the law. There are no more unfair fees. Renters will not have to pay just to apply for a home or to pay their rent before accessing housing. I have got to tell you, paying a fee to pay your rent is unreasonable and unfair, and that is why we are getting rid of it. Accessing and paying for your housing should not come with these additional costs.

This bill builds on the work we have already done to transform rental laws in Victoria. It is a direct response to the real concerns of renters, concerns around affordability, security of tenure and the basic right to live in a safe and habitable home. It is informed by consultation, by advocacy and by the experiences of those who have been pushing for change. Can I take a moment to thank all of those very strong community advocates.

No-one should live in fear of an unfair rent hike or the looming threat of eviction without just cause. This bill certainly takes some action to address these issues. It is enormously challenging for renters when the rental increases come in and they are unexpected and unaffordable. In so many cases I have heard folks are looking for a home just for the simple reason that their rental hike has increased due to skyrocketing costs. We are enhancing the rent increase review framework to really drive fairness, accountability and stronger oversight. With this bill before us we will empower the director of Consumer Affairs Victoria and the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to consider additional factors when assessing rental increases, ensuring that they are reasonable and justifiable. Furthermore, in this bill we are extending the notice period, as I said, from 60 to 90 days for rental increases and notices to vacate. This is not just for private rentals but also includes rooming houses, caravan parks and residential parks. This gives renters more time to plan and adjust if their circumstances change, providing greater stability and certainty.

We know that coming to the end of a lease and finding that next home can be a really challenging time. I know that many renters in Northern Metro will appreciate this additional effort, because a home should be a place of safety and not one of stress. That is why we are strengthening minimum rental standards to ensure that when a property is advertised, it is at that point meeting the fundamental requirements for safe and decent living conditions, giving renters the confidence they need to move into a home that meets community expectations of habitability and safety, as well as standards.

We have heard long and hard from renters and advocacy groups about how their personal information is collected, used and sometimes sold on. Some of the questions agents ask are entirely unnecessary and excessive – incredibly invasive in some cases. It is data that renters, in the hopes of getting a home, feel enormously pressured to provide without knowing how it will be stored or if it will be misused. This is something that is being felt time and time again.

Can I take a moment to acknowledge the incredible advocacy and leadership of the new Parliamentary Secretary for Renters – an incredible appointment here in the Allan Labor government to really drive home the importance we place on renters and the rental community. Kat Theophanous, who I had the great pleasure of speaking to yesterday afternoon about this, has very much the ear of local renters in her community, and I know that she will bring such enthusiasm and knowledge to this role, informed very much by the high number of renters in her community and right across Victoria. I am very, very happy to say that there are some changes in this bill that I know that Ms Theophanous and others are very excited about.

I want to go back to the rental data information that is provided and say that the bill will put an end to that practice by introducing standardised rental application forms and restricting what information can be collected. It places clear obligations on rental providers and real estate agents to protect the personal data of renters, ensuring that it is not stored indefinitely or used inappropriately, and penalties will apply for those who fail to comply. This is in addition to the steps that I spoke to earlier about banning unfair fees – fees that a renter should never have to pay just to pay their rent. Whether it is a charge for applying for a rental or a fee for simply paying rent, these costs add up and create unnecessary financial barriers. This bill will empower the government to prohibit these exploitative charges, making renting fairer and more affordable.

Security of tenure is one issue that has come up time and time again. I strongly support that renters should not live in fear of being asked to leave their homes without reason. They should not live in fear about whether or not they will have a roof over their head. The bill, in its removal of no-cause eviction notices, sends an incredibly strong and powerful message to the community and ensures that if a rental provider wants to end a tenancy, they must provide a valid and legitimate reason. At the same time, if tenants do choose to leave, getting into that next place can be enormously challenging, and that is why taking action against rental bidding is so, so welcomed. We know that despite the ban that was introduced in 2018, rental bidding still occurs. It pushes rentals even higher and places additional financial strain on tenants. This bill will strengthen the existing laws. It will make it illegal for rental providers and their agents to accept unsolicited rental bids or more than a month’s rent in advance. When we have got frightening cases of tenants having to have 12 months rent in advance for some properties, that is wrong. To stop that is a very, very good thing.

Renters and homebuyers alike deserve to interact with property professionals who are knowledgeable and, importantly, ethical and accountable. Not all professionals working in the property industry, I have got to tell you, are required to be licensed or even to undergo formal training. This leaves tenants really vulnerable to poor conduct, potential financial exploitation and really substandard service. They absolutely deserve better. That is why this bill introduces mandatory training requirements and licensing for property industry professionals, ensuring that they meet high standards of competence and professionalism. Estate agents or property managers or owners corporation managers will be required to undertake initial education and ongoing professional development, ensuring they are equipped with the skills and knowledge necessary to serve consumers fairly. We are introducing tougher penalties for real estate agents and property sellers who break the law. Underquoting and misleading property buyers has long been a frustration in the housing market, and these changes will strengthen enforcement and deterrence measures, ensuring that consumers are not misled or deceived.

As Victoria continues to grow, we need a planning system that is efficient, transparent and responsive to the needs of our community. The reforms in this bill will improve the planning process by cutting unnecessary delays and making decision-making more transparent. A new streamlined amendment path will ensure that minor, low-impact planning changes can proceed more efficiently while still allowing for important public consultation. This bill will also introduce clearer processes for councils to handle planning amendment requests, remove the ambiguity and ensure greater transparency for the applicants. It will give the Minister for Planning the ability to proceed with certain planning amendments even if the local authority has chosen to abandon them, ensuring that necessary developments are not stalled due to bureaucratic inaction.

Further changes will be made to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, or VCAT; we shall allow for a more efficient resolution of planning disputes, helping to reduce costs and delays while ensuring fair and timely outcomes. Disputes between renters and rental providers should not escalate into some really costly and time-consuming legal battles. That is why we are establishing Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria, one that I was particularly excited to see – a new dedicated service to help resolve simple tenancy disputes quickly and fairly. Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria will be a straightforward, accessible solution for renters, rental providers and estate agents to sort out common tenancy disputes. It is all about resolving issues early and fairly using alternative dispute resolution to keep things simple and stress-free for everyone involved. This service will provide renters and rental providers with access to mediation and early resolution mechanisms, reducing the need to go to VCAT. The bill ensures that Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria will be operational by June of 2025 with binding and enforceable outcomes, one that I know many have been calling for.

This bill before us is about fairness; it is about ensuring that every single Victorian has access to safe, secure and affordable housing. It is about making sure that renters are not left powerless in a system that should serve them, not exploit them. The reforms in this bill are the result of tireless advocacy from renters, from community groups and legal services who have worked to highlight the inequities in our current system. I would also add that there is a very strong voice for renters in the Victorian Labor caucus who I know hear from community each and every day about the stresses of the Victorian rental system, and this bill before us goes some way to providing a housing system that should serve, not exploit, Victorian renters. We are taking the decisive actions necessary to create a housing system that works for all. I will take the opportunity now to conclude my remarks with commending this bill to the house.

Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (10:23): I rise to speak today on the Consumer and Planning Legislation Amendment (Housing Statement Reform) Bill 2024 which the Greens will be supporting. Now, there are various elements of this bill, but I will just be focusing on the rental aspects primarily today, and as I speak there is a rental inspection going on over at my place so I was up all last night dusting light globes and polishing mirrors and putting away washing and, you know, heaven forbid the home actually looks like it is lived in. But anyway, this bill will see a range of new reforms that will give renters new rights. Thanks to massive pressure from renters themselves out there in the community and a huge push from the Greens we have finally managed to drag this government to the table on things like ending rental bidding and no-grounds evictions, and to be honest it is about time; we have been campaigning for expanded renters’ rights for years now.

Landlords and estate agents have had all the power for far too long, tacking on hidden fees to already skyrocketing rental fees, and renters have felt trapped in substandard homes out there in the community, paying unreasonable rates of rent, ever increasing, fearful of being kicked out on the street at any moment without cause. Now, there is still a lot more to do to even up the scales, like actually capping those rent increases that we are seeing out there in the community, but this bill is a step in the right direction. This bill will see a ban on all types of rent bidding: no longer will there be secret auctions at open houses – been there, done that – to see who will pay the most just to put a roof over their heads. Housing is a human right, not a game of The Price Is Right. Real estate agents also under this bill will not be able to sneak in hidden fees for background checks, transaction fees for paying your rent – again, been there, done that – or extending your lease. With the passing of these reforms what you will see on the listing online is what you will actually pay to live in the house; that is the intention. Landlords and agents cannot ask for or accept more than what is advertised or hide any of those extra fees.

This bill will also mean an end to no-grounds evictions. Currently we see renters afraid to ask for repairs that would bring their homes up to basic living standards because they could be kicked out without reason at any time. With these reforms, whether you are on a fixed term or month to month, your landlord will need to have an actual reason to ask you to leave rather than just shrugging and saying the vibes were off. If this bill works as intended, rental properties will need to meet minimum standards before they can be advertised, so you will not be moving into a rental property with faulty electrics, no hot water, mould or locks that will not lock. Here is hoping that with this bill that is actually what happens. This is another good step that should have been implemented years ago, but we still need to go further and legislate those promised heating and cooling standards in rental properties out there in the community.

The notice period for rent hikes and evictions is being extended from 60 day to 90 days under this bill, giving you three months to plan ahead and find a new place to live in that scenario. That is still an absolutely cooked situation to be in, but it is an improvement. To make things a bit easier when looking for a new place to rent, rental application forms will be standardised. Real estate agents and landlords will only be able to get the information about you that they actually need, meaning they will not be there asking for full passport details, about your personal life or your health record anymore, and there will be strict limits on how long they can keep your information on their records. I am here ready for that purge, I tell you.

These are all positive and much-needed reforms, and we have been calling for them for years. The glaring omission in this bill, I will say though, is that there is still no limit on the amount that rent can be increased. Every 12 months rents can be increased by any amount, leaving families in the lurch, stressed about if and when the cost of their home will simply become too much for them. We are in a cost-of-living crisis and a housing crisis. We cannot allow rents to increase year on year without that kind of regulation or capping. This is not only incredibly anxiety-inducing for renters but also a way that we do see landlords and estate agents seeking to control or evict tenants in these properties. Leaving rental hikes unchecked will kick people out of their homes, it will stop them from asking for repairs and exercising the very rights we are here legislating in this bill. We need to control rent increases in that way and set an affordable rate so that everyone can afford a roof over their head. As I have said, this bill is a step forward. Here is hoping it operates as intended, ready for those next steps. My door is open, government. With that, I commend this bill to the house.

Tom McINTOSH (Eastern Victoria) (10:27): I am proud to stand and speak in support of the Consumer and Planning Legislation Amendment (Housing Statement Reform) Bill 2024. I am proud to be in a government that focuses on issues that matter to all Victorians, issues that make a real difference in people’s lives. I often talk about that, whether it might be across education, whether it might be across health care, jobs, pay conditions, all these various things, but housing is another incredibly important item for all Victorians.

Renting is something that most Victorians will do at some point during their lives, whether it is when they are younger – as Mr Puglielli reminds us, he is a younger Victorian, which is great; one day he will be an older Victorian and he may also need to rent. Whether it is young Victorians leaving home, it is about ensuring that they are able to rent a house, or whether it is families, particularly single-parent families, it is about ensuring that they can get a rental home that is safe, affordable and fit for them and their family to be in, or for retiring Victorians to be able to be in a home that is proper for them to be in. For working Victorians, we have noticed in recent years, with unemployment numbers being very low and with a high demand on the workforce, particularly throughout regional Victoria, it is about ensuring that workers are able to get accommodation where we need them, whether that is working health care or aged care, child care or education, a whole lot of really, really critical areas of the workforce for all of us.

I want to start off by noting that the government has had renters front of mind for a very long time. Over 130 reforms have been made before these ones by Labor governments, who have not, as some may like to allude to, just come to the party now. This has been a consistent piece of work to continually ensure the quality of accommodation for renters in Victoria. For some Victorians, renting will be will be relatively short term – maybe for one, five, 10 years of their life and at different stages of their life – but for others it will be for their entire life. That is why it is really important that the reforms that have gone before and these rental reforms ensure that those Victorians who are renting are in homes that are, as I have said, safe and fit for people to live in.

I just want to talk about the bill now. I want to move to that. I want to note that tenant groups have acknowledged and indeed supported the changes that have been made historically. Now that we move into this bill, we will see that all remaining no-reason notices to vacate in the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 will be removed. That means no no-fault evictions for fixed-term rentals or if the owner is moving back in. Tenants can still be evicted for reasons such as damage, not paying rent or if the owner is moving back in, but with this change you cannot be kicked out without a valid reason and not just because someone wants to put the home straight back on the market and put the rent up.

It is important to note that while the house may be owned by someone else, to the tenants it is their home, so I think ensuring that things occur in a timely manner, where people are able to organise their lives and not just have them out of that home without time to sufficiently plan their next steps, is really important. As I said before, particularly where people have kids in their homes, there is a lot more to it than just getting friends or a removalist van to take their belongings from one house to the next. There is everything that goes alongside that, whether that is child care, kinder, schools, sports clubs, loved ones. I will never forget years ago talking about kids – this was more on the foster care side of things – that are taken out of their homes. Everything in their surrounds just disappears out of their lives, and it is much the same if we are taking kids from one house to another in a very short period where the other things in their lives cannot be worked out as that family moves. It is a big change also for people at the end of their first fixed-term lease. It goes further than previous commitments, which banned rent increases between successive fixed-term leases.

The bill introduces amendments to ban a rental provider or their agent from accepting an unsolicited rental bid or accepting more than a month’s rent in advance. In 2021 we made it illegal for real estate agents or landlords to solicit or encourage higher offers than the advertised price of a rental property, but a tight rental market with vacancy rates at record lows put an incredible amount of pressure on prospective tenants. More and more we are seeing people making their own unsolicited bids, either to pay more weekly rent or to pay more than four weeks in advance to try and give their application a competitive edge. This legislation levels the playing field for renters by closing this loophole and banning all types of rental bidding for good. It will become an offence to accept bids, and this introduces tougher penalties for agents or landlords who break the law.

In such a tight rental market it is only fair that renters have time to prepare for increasing costs or finding a new home, as I outlined before. The notice-to-vacate and notice-of-rent-increase periods change from 60 to 90 days for residential rental agreements, rooming houses, caravan parks and movable dwellings.

The bill will standardise rental application forms to prevent requests for unnecessary information and personal data that is often collected by real estate agents and rent tech apps when renters apply for a home. This also increases protections for renters’ personal information, requiring the holder of renters’ information to take reasonable steps to protect it and requiring the destruction and de-identification of renters’ personal information. The bill will introduce penalties for failing to comply with these requirements.

The bill will also ensure that the residential rental provider or the provider’s agent must immediately arrange for urgent repairs to be carried out on faulty smoke alarms, which we know is just so critically important; you cannot have a smoke alarm that is not operational. The reforms also extend the requirements for rental providers to ensure gas and electrical safety checks are conducted every two years by qualified tradespersons on all residential rental properties regardless of the rental agreement start date. I am sure the Liberals will try and say that having gas appliances checked every two years is an attack on the use of gas in homes or something to that effect. I look forward to what they might say if they make a contribution on this bill. But I think most Victorians who are renters want to be in a home where they know there is not going to be a gas leak. We have seen the tragic outcomes that can occur there. As an electrician, I think it is absolutely fit and proper that we get in and check the electricals within a house and make sure they are safe as well. The reform builds on our 2021 rental reforms, which introduced new requirements for residential rental providers to check that a rental property has a working smoke alarm that is tested every 12 months.

Every real estate transaction involves significant financial investment and legal complexities. Indeed for many people the engagement of a real estate agent is a major financial item in their lives, and renters often rely on agents to provide accurate information and advice when they are looking for their home. We will introduce mandatory continuing professional development for real estate industry professionals, including agents, property managers, conveyancers and owners corporation managers. It will mean better skills for real estate workers, encourage ethical conduct across the industry and give renters the peace of mind they deserve.

The bill amends the Estate Agents Act 1980 to require agents’ representatives to be registered. Agents’ representatives assist estate agents with their functions and typically work as property managers or sales consultants. Agents’ representatives are the professionals that renters are likely to engage with the most. Currently a licensed estate agent employer is responsible for assessing a person’s eligibility to work as an agents’ representative. Under the new registration scheme to be established by this bill, persons wishing to be employed as agents’ representatives will be personally required to demonstrate to the Business Licensing Authority that they meet eligibility requirements before being registered. The bill amends the Owners Corporations Act 2006 to extend registration requirements for owners corporation managers to a natural person in effective control of an owners corporation management business. As the majority of registered owners corporations managers are currently corporations rather than natural persons, this reform will enable educational requirements to be applied to a natural person in control of each owners corporation management business.

We have increased penalties for a range of offences in the Estate Agents Act 1980 from 200 penalty units, which is currently $39,518, to 240 penalty units, which is currently $47,422. This includes estate agents who misrepresent the estimated selling price of a property or who fail to revise or substantiate an estimated selling price that is no longer reasonable. We have increased penalties for offences in the Sale of Land Act 1962 involving false representations by property sellers from 120 units, which is $23,711, to 240 units, which is now $47,422. This includes property sellers who make misrepresentations in selling property. We have extended existing powers to confiscate estate agents’ commissions to cover the full range of underquoting-related offences. The extension of these powers will supplement the efforts of Consumer Affairs Victoria’s underquoting taskforce, which continues to monitor and enforce compliance with underquoting restrictions across Victoria. It will also require rental minimum standards to be met at advertisement or let of a property. The bill will establish a new offence for a rental provider or their agent to advertise or offer to let rental premises that do not meet rental minimum standards at the time of advertisement or when an offer is made to let.

Requiring compliance with minimum standards at the point of advertising or where an offer to let is made will enable the director of Consumer Affairs Victoria to exercise enforcement powers when a complaint is made to ensure rental providers meet minimum standards before a renter occupies a premises. The director will also be able to inspect premises offered for rent to check whether they comply with the rental minimum standards.

The bill will strengthen the Victorian planning system by implementing Red Tape Commissioner recommendations and related reforms. The government first committed to implement the Red Tape Commissioner reforms in November 2021 and more recently in September 2023 through the housing statement. The bill will amend the Planning and Environment Act 1987 and the Victorian Civil Administration Tribunal Act 1988 to strengthen the planning system by introducing a low-impact planning scheme amendment pathway; formalising the process for proponent-led planning scheme amendments and allowing the minister to elect to continue a planning scheme amendment that has been abandoned by a planning authority; providing responsible authorities for the authority to reject incomplete planning permit applications, including ministerial guidelines on material detriment and extending the default planning permit expiry periods; making it discretionary rather than mandatory to refer permit applications that have been called in by the minister or a planning panel; establishing a new power to grant exemptions from the metropolitan planning levy in certain circumstances; amending processes for Planning Panels Victoria in relation to submissions; changing how the interest on disputed claims for compensation is calculated; and improving the management of planning matters through the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

So, Acting President, as you have heard, there is much the government has done in the past and much we are doing with this bill to ensure that Victorian renters have the best rental standards in Australia and indeed some of the best in the world. I think, as I highlighted at the start of my contribution, it is really important that no matter what age a Victorians is, when they are in a rental property in this state, that is their home and it will be in a condition that is fit for whoever is in there to treat it as their home, to feel it is their home and to get on and have the best possible quality of life they can in this state. So, thank you for the time.

David LIMBRICK (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (10:42): I would also like to make a few comments on the Consumer and Planning Legislation Amendment (Housing Statement Reform) Bill 2024. Well, who would want to be a landlord in Victoria? Not many people, it seems. I have spoken to a number of accountants who have been given the task of dealing with their clients who want to exit the market. They no longer want to be landlords in Victoria because Victoria has massive land taxes, we have regulation after regulation after regulation, and it has brought us to a point where we now have a rental crisis, wholly created by the government, in my view. Of course the government’s solution is more regulations to make things even less attractive to be a landlord in Victoria. I note that the Greens are very supportive of this; they never saw a regulation they did not like, I think. But I would like to draw the house’s attention to another jurisdiction across the across the world that also had a very big problem with a rental crisis, and that place was Argentina.

Argentina suffered for years as they had been turned into a socialist hellhole, like the type that the Greens want to create in Australia, where they thought that they could cap prices on rentals and restrict availability and have all sorts of regulations that would help people, and of course it created homelessness. Rentals were unavailable, because of course when you cap prices the iron rule of economics is that price caps create shortages; in this case, shortages meant homelessness. Fortunately, Argentinians decided that they had enough of living in this socialist hellscape and they wanted change, so they voted for a new president, and they voted in the first libertarian president in the world, President Milei; he happens to also be a professor of economics. Anyone that understands economics knows that if you want to increase market efficiency you remove the regulations, and one of the very first things that he did was look to improving the housing situation for the long-suffering Argentinians. What he did to the rental market was totally deregulate it. He removed entire acts and removed almost all regulations in the rental market. And guess what happened? They went from having almost no rentals available to 24 per cent availability in the rental market overnight. Overnight they created that. This government could do it too, but they choose not to because they have this religious belief that more regulations will make things better. I can tell you it will not make things better. What will happen is we will see more people exiting the market, more landlords exiting the market.

We have never seen a class of people more vilified than landlords. The Greens seem to want more rentals available and more places for people to live, and yet they attack the very people that build houses – developers – and those who rent them out to people, which are the landlords. This is totally incoherent. Although I like some of the things around improving disputes and things like that, making that more efficient – I will give some credit there – ultimately what we are doing here is we are increasing regulations, making it less attractive to be a landlord in Victoria. Therefore the Libertarian Party will not support this, because it will not make rentals more available or cheaper in Victoria; it will do the exact opposite.

Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (10:46): I rise to make a contribution on the Consumer and Planning Legislation Amendment (Housing Statement Reform) Bill 2024, and I am very proud to do so. This is a significant body of work that the government has undertaken, because we understand that there is real pressure out there in the community and the housing market is not what it once was. Many Victorians are struggling to find stable housing, regardless of their income, regardless of where they live in our state and regardless of whether they are looking to rent or buy. There is just pressure on every single part of our housing system. Part of that of course has built up over a period of time. Part of it has been probably distorted somewhat by the economic shocks of the pandemic. There are so many different factors at play here. But when I think about my time as a younger person moving out of home and going into the rental market for the first time, boy, did we have it easy compared to the current generation. I can still remember paying $50 a week rent, living 2 kilometres from the CBD, just living my best life really and having heaps of disposable income with my casual $10-an-hour job. The times are completely different now, and this is why it is so important for the government to have a long-term vision about how we will support Victorians into appropriate and stable housing.

I have often said that one of the most important infrastructure initiatives there is is the ability for you to have a safe roof over your head. There is no piece of infrastructure more fundamental that the government can work on delivering. It really is about that basic human right of having shelter and having security. As I indicated earlier, we know that the particular needs of Victorians have changed over time. We obviously want to make it easier for people to get into the property market and obtain home ownership, but that is not going to be appropriate for everyone. We have a growing number of Victorians in the rental market – about a third of Victorians rent. This is a bit of a unique Australian thing, I think. I was born in England, and just about everybody who is not the landed gentry rents. It is not looked down on; it is actually a very legitimate part of the housing offering over in the UK. In many parts of Europe people rent all their lives, but the difference is that the arrangements are really stable and long term.

What the government is doing in this bill is incredibly significant, because it is about setting up those protections for renters and providing them with greater certainty over their rental agreements, and that in turn will support their living standards and finances. As I said, this is a result of the housing statement that the government released in September 2023, and it is a long-term vision, a 10-year plan for improving housing supply and affordability. It really is another important step in delivering on our housing commitment through the additional reforms contained in the More Homes, More Opportunity package, which was released in October 2024.

As others have commented on, we have worked incredibly hard to increase the protections for renters, and in fact our government has delivered more than 130 reforms. I guess I would disagree with Mr Limbrick on this point – regulation is not necessarily a negative, because these regulations and these reforms are actually about protections for renters. When you consider the power imbalance that was at play under the prereformed system, all of the power lay with the landlord. So this is about making sure that we get that balance right. It is about improving on the reforms that we have already made, more than 130 reforms, and it touches on some key areas.

Repealing the remaining no-reason notice to vacate and banning no-fault evictions I think is incredibly important. You can still be evicted for the usual reasons, such as damage, not paying rent, if the owner is moving back in and so on, but this change will mean that you cannot be kicked out of your tenancy without a valid reason. How many stories have we all heard, whether from family or friends or through our constituents that contact our electorate offices constantly with stories about being evicted for no reason. In many circumstances, in terms of some of the people that I have dealt with in my electorate office in the western suburbs, that can be the difference between having a roof over your head or facing homelessness, and I have literally had that situation with people coming into the electorate office absolutely desperate about what they are going to do in a circumstance where they have not even really been given a reason for an eviction. So this is a really significant change and one that our government is proud to support.

Banning all types of rental bidding is an absolute no-brainer. We do not want to have a situation where in order to get a tenancy you have got to go through some sort of humiliating Hunger Games to be able to have a roof over your head. So these are, again, important reforms, and they build on the reforms that the government introduced in 2021 which made it illegal for real estate agents or landlords to solicit or encourage higher offers than the advertised price of the rental property. As we have seen, with a tightening rental market that can be really gamed for all the wrong reasons, so this is a very important change that we are bringing to the Parliament.

Increasing the notice period to 90 days for rent increases and notices to vacate is a very practical change that the government is seeking to make. Again, in a tight rental market it is really important that renters get a fair go, and this is a reasonable and proportionate change in renters’ favour.

In terms of making rental applications easier and better protecting renters’ information through enhanced use, disclosure and collection requirements, this is really just making sure that the systems that wrap around renters and landlords are fit for purpose and are appropriate. The bill will introduce penalties for failing to comply with these requirements.

On extending smoke alarm safety requirements, I do not think anybody in their right mind would argue that that is anything other than a reasonable and appropriate requirement. We do not want to see people in harm’s way because of the fact that a landlord has not maintained a safe environment in that tenancy.

Mandatory licensing and training to improve property industry professionals’ competence and tougher penalties to deter poor conduct are again about making sure that landlords and real estate agents do the right thing when it comes to tenants. These are not unreasonable changes. Currently licensed real estate agent employers are responsible for assessing a person’s eligibility to work. What this does is tighten it up. Under the registration scheme persons wishing to be employed as agent representatives will be personally required to demonstrate to the Business Licensing Authority that they meet eligibility requirements before being registered – hardly an onerous requirement when you consider the need for protection of tenants.

Introducing tougher penalties for real estate agents and sellers who break the law, particularly in relation to underquoting, is also something that I know the community has been calling for for a very long time. Many people who are trying to break into the property market feel like they are not getting even past that first step because of the underquoting that has been, sadly, a feature of some of the behaviour in the sector. I think that this is a very reasonable reform which will ensure that those people seeking to break into the property market are doing so on a level playing field.

In the time that I have got left I just want to talk a little bit about our record. It is no coincidence that the government wants to talk about housing a lot, because we know that it is the single biggest issue out there in the community. Make no mistake, our reforms are about securing quality housing for Victorians, whether it is supporting families looking to buy a home or young people looking for a home to rent or vulnerable people who need to look for appropriate housing to meet their particular circumstances. We are singularly focused on making sure that our government is getting all of the settings right and that we are pulling every lever available to be able to provide this basic right for all Victorians. That is why we are number one in Australia for approving and building homes. Melbourne is the undisputed build-to-rent capital of Australia thanks to our reforms. In generations to come people will look back on these investments and this reform as a game changer when it comes to people being able to access affordable and appropriate accommodation. Melbourne is home to around three-thirds of all build-to-rent projects completed in Australia last year and 73 per cent of build-to-rent apartments across Australia. This is incredibly important. What it will mean is that eligible build-to-rent developments completed and operational from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2031 will receive a 50 per cent land tax concession for up to 30 years and a full exemption from the absentee owner surcharge. They are really important incentives, if you like, to get housing stock moving, including build-to-rent.

We have also invested $7.8 million in community organisations who are supporting Victorian renters and preventing homelessness through our rental stress support package, and that is almost a quadrupling of our original $2 million commitment. The big build – $5.3 billion – is delivering at least 12,000 new homes, with 9600 new social and affordable homes underway or complete and more than 4000 people already living in their new homes. They deserve nothing less. I am absolutely proud of the commitment that our government has made to ensuring that some of the most vulnerable in our community have access to stable, modern and appropriate housing. These changes have also ensured that basic amenities like hot and cold water in the bathrooms and laundry; a functioning oven, stovetop and sink in the kitchen; and a permanent and working heater in the living room are available for tenants. Our government is looking at every available opportunity to improve the situation for renters. I think that this bill is a significant package of reforms that will deliver in that regard.

Can I say that we hear a lot from those over there about housing, and I can remember in a bygone era, the last time they were in government, they did not want to change anything in the leafy east – nothing. Well, we are about changing it for all Victorians so that they get access to quality housing wherever they live and no matter what their background.

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (11:01): So why then are about 13 of 50 activity centres in one seat – Malvern. One seat. You have looked at the political map and gone, ‘There we go in that area.’ You have got several places that could have been picked and that were suggested. The City of Casey have been begging for activity centres, two in particular – none on the list. They have been begging the government to go ahead with their activity centres. They did not make the list. There are plenty of other places, and there are some activity centres which we would not oppose – for example, in Broadmeadows. The City of Hume have been asking for an activity centre for a very long time and do need an uplift, so that one there I think is welcome. Epping – a lot of it is vacant land where apartments are already going up within the existing council activity zone.

Harriet Shing: On a point of order, Acting President, I am just wondering if Mr Mulholland would like to table any announcement from the Liberals that the Leader of the Opposition’s electorate is where in fact he thinks that the activity centres and densification should be going.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Michael Galea): That is not a point of order.

Evan MULHOLLAND: I am simply stating what councils have been asking for. The government is playing politics with these changes but also using a political map to decide where activity centres should go. How would you feel if you lived in those communities and found out that after way more submissions in those communities, it is the communities of Niddrie and the communities of Essendon where the government has had a change of mind and has been able to change scope – no-one else’s electorate. And do not think I do not hear the conversations locally and what the member for Essendon has said and what the Deputy Premier has said about their government’s own announcements, about their government’s own activity centres, criticising them to local communities – do not think I do not hear about it – saying, ‘Well, I’m speaking to the planning minister. I’ve raised concerns with the planning minister.’ I know you do not want to hear about it.

Harriet Shing: On a point of order, Acting President, as useful as this general dialogue is from Mr Mulholland, I am just wondering whether it has relevance and indeed about the extent of such relevance to renters rights as they relate to perhaps a desire to live closer to where they grew up, so on that basis a request for him to come back to the substance of the bill would be welcome.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (Michael Galea): I will bring Mr Mulholland back to the bill.

Evan MULHOLLAND: I find that quite ironic given your previous point of order was referring me towards talking about the activity centres.

I will come to the bill, the Consumer and Planning Legislation Amendment (Housing Statement Reform) Bill 2024. The government has their priorities wrong. I think at times they believe that rental providers are some sort of charity case that are more than happy to invest in Victoria. That is the view of that side of the chamber. Except for maybe Minister Pearson, I am not sure if any on the other side have invested in anything or run a business.

We are a federation, which means we are in competition with other states for investment to provide rental properties. The removal of the notice to vacate at the end of a lease has many in the sector very, very concerned. It is just another layer on top of the government’s massive land tax increases and on top of the successive interest rate rises that rental providers have had to cop. In particular the land tax increases and the regulation upon regulation of rental providers are forcing them to leave the state. In the last 12 months alone there were 24,716 less rentals in Victoria. Why do you think that is? Maybe the next speaker can provide some speaking notes on why that might be. I reckon it is because of the massive increase in taxes that rental providers are being forced to cop because Labor cannot manage money. They cannot manage money, and Victorians are paying the price. It is actually the renters that are paying the price because there are less homes available as roofs over people’s heads.

Rental providers do not just offer rentals out of the goodness of their hearts. We have financial investors and advice experts like Propertyology that are advising their investors not to invest in Victoria. We have accountant after accountant saying that everyone is selling up and getting out of Victoria because they cannot afford it or they are investing in another state. Again, we are a federation. We are in competition with other states for that investment market to get roofs over people’s heads. This government does not seem to understand the economics of the housing market. Labor’s land tax means that investors are fleeing Victoria – they are. As I said, there are 24,716 less rentals.

Let us look at their 10 years in office. Across Labor’s 10 years in office the number of rental properties available has dropped by 12.8 per cent. If you speak to anyone in the industry, as many stakeholders have said, 25 per cent of current listings are rental properties. Investors are fleeing the state to other states. I know many people and many constituents who are rental providers have sold up and have bought in places like Brisbane. This government cannot manage money, and it is Victorians that are paying the price. Ultimately, it is renters that are paying the price for Labor’s mismanagement of the budget. We are heading towards over $180 billion of debt. We are going to be paying a million dollars an hour just to service the interest on that debt.

I was in this chamber when the land tax was passed, and the Greens are a fault for that as well because it is constituents in their electorates that are paying the price for Labor’s massive taxes on land and rental providers. This government seems to think that those rental providers will just have to cop it. It is almost like they are trying to trap them in there through the removal of the notice to vacate at the end of the property lease. They are going to cram them all into VCAT and trap them in there so they are continually paying Labor’s land tax, like some sort of state intervention, when people, including rental providers, have to vacate for various factors and are all leaving the state. They are all leaving the state.

Ryan Batchelor interjected.

Evan MULHOLLAND: Again, for someone who talks about housing so much, Mr Batchelor, the number of available rental properties has dropped, in your term of government, by 12.8 per cent. You want to talk about building more homes and approving more homes. We approved more homes in Victoria in four years than Labor have in 10. I know you do not like to speak about your former Minister for Planning, who was planning minister for about eight of the 10 years you have been in government, Richard Wynne. We do not hear much about him in these debates – it is funny, that. We do not hear much about Richard Wynne in these debates. That is because he was busy siding up with people like Minister Erdogan in putting height restrictions in places like Brunswick, stopping developments in places like Preston and putting height limits in places like Carnegie, only for very similar activity zones – almost a carbon copy – to reappear in the government’s housing statement.

Ryan Batchelor: Do you support it or not?

Evan MULHOLLAND: No, no, no, I am simply pointing out the hypocrisy of this government to so say they are all of a sudden going to be building homes. Meanwhile eight of the 10 years they have been in government they have been blocking homes. You literally passed a bill enabling objectors, a housing amendment that enabled objectors, which Brian Tee was involved in and Richard Wynne was involved in. I believe Minister Symes spoke on it when it came to this place in about 2015. We know the member for Macedon spoke on it. A whole bunch of members spoke on it, and they all spoke glowingly about putting the power back into the local community for them to have a say over the developments in which they are living and to protect neighbourhood amenity. I know Mr Galea would be absolutely appalled by that bill. I suggest the members opposite go look at Hansard for that debate, because you will see many current – and a lot of former – Labor colleagues crowing about how they have spoken to their community and all posting angry photos of people in front of housing developments saying, ‘That Matthew Guy, he is approving too many developments. We need to protect our neighbourhood character.’ So we have had a complete backflip from this government. They are absolute hypocrites when it comes to housing. Again, we approved more housing in four years than that side of the house has done in 10.

In terms of the housing market, the government is completely hypocritical. We have had Minister Kilkenny opposing sensible developments in her own seat, putting out letters on social media and in community groups about how she is standing up for the community by opposing the Cove planning scheme amendment. ‘It doesn’t fit with the amenity and character of our local community. I’m standing with the local community.’ But with everyone else’s seats she does not want to listen. She absolutely does not want to listen.

Minister Shing spoke yesterday about how she is really listening to the consultation in Cheltenham regarding the Cheltenham activity centre.

Harriet Shing: Do you mean the draft structure plans?

Evan MULHOLLAND: Yes, and how there are 10,000 of them. Many of them speak of opposition to high-rise developments, opposition to the Suburban Rail Loop and how the government is not actually listening, so in terms of consultation with the community it seems like it is more consultold.

This is a shocker of a bill. It will have several amendments in committee. I will leave my contribution there.

Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Treasurer, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Regional Development) (11:16): It is a pleasure to speak on the Consumer and Planning Legislation Amendment (Housing Statement Reform) Bill 2024. This bill is another important step in delivering on our housing commitments by introducing a range of reforms that will increase protections for renters’ rights and ease the cost-of-living pressures. I was not sure that that was the bill we will talking about when I walked in to listen to Mr Mulholland.

I might spend a bit of time talking about the importance of protecting the rights of renters, making sure that they are secure in their home and making support available for them to really make their rental property their home. We do know that many Victorians are experiencing housing stress, and ensuring access to dispute resolution services is something that is really important. It is something that I had a little bit to do with in a former life, which was only a couple of months ago, in relation to ensuring that we are supporting people to have safe and secure housing.

I do want to acknowledge VCAT. VCAT is a great organisation that has gone from strength to strength after significant challenges through COVID. It is an organisation that was just not set up to deal with disputes that were not in person, and therefore there was a significant challenge and backlog that they have come to address. I have been so impressed with their work and particularly with president Ted Woodward in relation to his leadership and the work done there. They worked incredibly hard to address the pandemic-related backlogs that I referred to, utilising government investment.

We supported them through around $20.8 million in the 2022–23 budget, which was all about ensuring that our courts and tribunal systems could respond and recover from the impact of the pandemic. We saw the appointment of 20 new members who commenced at VCAT, and they really got into the work. They took a case management approach so that the only matters that needed to proceed to determination were those more complex problems, filtering out others to make sure that they could deal with some of the matters that had been on the books for some time. They did really get into the pending cases in the residential tenancies list and helped to resolve some of those matters, and they are really important matters. They are often small outstanding claims for repairs, bond releases and the like. In relative terms in the court system these are minor matters, but they are not minor matters for the people that they impact. These are issues that keep people awake at night, cause them stress and financial impost, and having them resolved is something that should be a priority. I thank VCAT for the work that they have done.

It also paved the way for the development and implementation of the commitment that was part of the housing statement in relation to Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria. As part of the housing statement, we did commit to establish a new dispute resolution body for Victorians to have their tenancy matters addressed, and that has come to be called RDRV – obviously an important part of this bill.

When RDRV starts operations it will save renters and rental providers money and time. Non-judicial staff will triage matters, provide information and resolve disputes quickly. The experience from VCAT’s work, which will be able to translate into this body, is that very often when people are given advice about how a matter will proceed they are well informed to make decisions, which often mean that they are not going through a whole process that involves a hearing – they can get together and resolve issues outside the courtroom effectively. We know that the sooner you resolve a dispute, the better the outcome tends to be for everyone. RDRV will start operating in June and will save renters and rental providers, as I said, all of that time and effort, and it will reduce the need for matters to go through to VCAT hearings in the vast majority of cases. Renters will be able to call up on the phone, there will be the ability to get information online and there will still be the capacity to attend in person and get access to highly skilled dispute resolution experts who are all about ensuring that they can bring parties together and have full and frank conversations about what is going on with a view to ensuring that people understand what their options are, and very often this results in resolution of matters, as I said, faster and easier.

The purpose of RDRV, as I said, is to enable matters that would otherwise need to go through to a more formal, time-consuming hearing process to be resolved in a more efficient, accessible and user-friendly manner. It is a win-win for renters, it is a win-win for landlords and those that have traditionally perhaps been tied up in combative processes that you should avoid at all costs. We have worked closely with VCAT through the development of the model, and part of RDRV being attached to VCAT is about ensuring coherence between entities so that together the right matters are being addressed by the right process and in the right place rather than finding out that you perhaps could have resolved something much sooner had you known about other options.

As I said, this bill is all about delivering on the housing commitments that we have previously made. There are a range of reforms in relation to renters rights, but we also know that when you are dealing with parts of the housing market it has an obvious benefits for other downstream options. We talk a lot about housing, and there is a reason for that, and it is because we are recognising the importance of this issue to the Victorian community. We want to address housing needs right across Victoria, and that is why you will hear the Minister for Housing and Building always talking about the more homes that we are building, the support that we are giving first home buyers to purchase their first homes and also continuing to make sure that we are building the right types of places in the right areas so people are close to family members and have access to the services that they rely on. That is what underpins our commitments around the Big Housing Build, and it will deliver important uplifts to benefit a range of people, including a 10 per cent uplift in the total number of social housing stock, delivering 12,000 social housing homes. Since the announcement of the Big Housing Build in November 2020 more than 10,100 homes have been completed or are underway, and more than 5500 households have either moved or are getting ready to move into brand new homes; that just is a slight contradiction to some of the language that Mr Mulholland was using earlier.

I will take the opportunity to just reflect on some of the issues in regional Victoria. The Big Housing Build and the Regional Housing Fund have seen more than 1800 homes already completed in rural and regional Victoria, and it is just so important to make sure that we are building right across the state. Obviously you can build a couple of houses in country Victoria and the impact on a community and the ability for certain families to stay where they want to live cannot be underestimated. Right now I understand that there are a further 1680 homes that are underway, with thousands more to come, and not only is this building homes for people to live in, it is creating jobs right across regional Victoria.

I had the great pleasure of being in Wangaratta last Friday, joined by the Minister for Housing and Building – thank you so much for coming – where we were joined by such enthusiastic community members to celebrate the completion of a residential partnership there with Uniting in relation to 44 new homes replacing the 16 old dwellings that used to be there – forty-four new homes in the form of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. Just this week, right now, there are 90 people moving into that facility. They are 90 people that have predominantly been identified as high priority on the public housing waiting list. We are talking about victim-survivors of family violence. There were family violence providers there to help celebrate the opening of this facility, because they know just how important it is for many of their clients, particularly women and children. The location of the houses is right in the centre of Wangaratta. It is literally halfway between the hospital and the main street of Wangaratta. You are close to schools. The TAFE is right there. Obviously there is a range of health services that surround the hospital. Then you have got your supermarkets and your theatre and things all within walking distance. It is right next door to a lovely park as well. This is one of the best projects I have had the pleasure of being involved in. It is one of the projects that I have seen. I have been hassling the minister’s office for over a year now with updates because of the excitement of driving past that site quite regularly when it was under construction. I am really looking forward to meeting some of the tenants in the coming months in relation to that project, because it is just fantastic.

I hope and I have no doubt that I will have similar experiences with other projects that are currently underway. There is a project in Benalla – the Benalla West housing project. It is a $30 million investment providing more than 45 new homes, along with upgrades and improvements made to the public spaces in that neighbourhood. This is a neighbourhood that I used to hang out in as a kid. I had friends that lived right in this region. It is an area that has had some negativity in relation to being rundown public housing that people did not particularly want to live in. It was not necessarily the best environment and we are changing that, ensuring that there will be new homes, a mix of homes, including social and affordable, really reflecting what the community needs and ensuring that we are capitalising on the open space. It is interesting when you stand in this nice park area, it is currently over people’s backyards. Whereas the new proposal is really more about facing the park and activating the park, bringing in a greater sense of ownership and a greater sense of safety and accessibility in an open space. I am really looking forward to this project and I know the community members, particularly existing residents who will have the opportunity to move out temporarily and move back in, are really excited about that project.

There are also a lot of great things happening in Shepparton. Homes Victoria and Beyond Housing are working in partnership. I actually went to Benalla from Wangaratta on Friday, but Minister Shing went to Shepparton to meet with Beyond Housing. There are some great projects there, including a 15-unit housing complex in Shepparton as part of the regional supportive housing program.

There is just so much going on in northern Victoria in relation to housing, and I might use the last bit of my time to talk about the fact that we are building thousands of houses and homes for regional workers. This is all about places such as Northeast Health, Goulburn Valley Health, Cobram District Health, some fruit-picking organisations in Shepparton, Eildon accommodation projects. Why I pick out those in particular is that these are in parts of my electorate that have amazing job opportunities, obviously in healthcare, but in Eildon where they build a lot of houseboats, for instance, getting workers to be able to come and stay there has been a challenge because of the lack of housing. This is all about ensuring that as a government we are partnering with organisations, local councils and employers in relation to the priorities that they have to ensure that they can get the workers to meet the needs of the community.

That is a fantastic initiative, and I do thank Minister Tierney for her leadership in relation to that particular initiative. I have just got the list of the ones in Northern Victoria on me actually, but I know that, like particularly Minister Shing and Ms Ermacora, representing regional Victoria, we have all got really exciting projects in the housing space supporting workers. It is a fantastic portfolio. I am a little bit jealous, Minister Shing, in relation to the amount of good work that you can do through this portfolio, because having seen firsthand the people that will be moving into the houses that we build, all strength to your arm in further and more support for housing in the state of Victoria.

John BERGER (Southern Metropolitan) (11:31): I am pleased to stand and speak in support of this legislation today. It was brought into the Parliament by the previous Minister for Consumer Affairs Gabrielle Williams in the other place. I want to start off by thanking her for her hard work bringing this bill to us today. It is a comprehensive set of reforms aimed at providing a more fair, equitable and affordable future for renters across Victoria.

As we all know, in 2023 the Allan Labor government released our comprehensive housing statement. It is our commitment to increasing housing availability and affordability over a decade-long period, 2024 to 2034. The reality is that, by that estimate, Melbourne is set to house the same number of people in 2050 – that being just over two decades – as London does today. In fact London is just over 1500 square kilometres in size; meanwhile Melbourne boasts nearly 10,000. I paint this image to the chamber because I want to prove that it is absolutely possible to meet the challenge of the growing population. The land is there, but for a long time Melbourne has chosen to grow outwards rather than upwards. It means more people are living away from where they want and need to live, away from family and away from the major commercial hubs. It is not sustainable for the environment, the economy and the budget for our public services. It is why we released the housing statement. Over that timeframe of 10 years we are building 800,000 new homes and delivering housing and planning reforms for the benefit of current and future home owners. The Allan Labor government has led the nation with its progress on this, and not just housing development but housing reform. The suite of renters rights reforms that the Andrews and now Allan Labor government have pushed is unmatched in any other state. The task now in front of us requires more than shovels in the ground and workers on construction sites; it needs to push ahead with more reforms that protect the growing number of renters in Melbourne. This bill is an integral part of that action.

These amendments are to several acts, including the Residential Tenancies Act 1997, the Estate Agents Act 1980, the Owners Corporations Act 2006 and more. They are all about increasing protections for Victorians. About a third of Victorians are renters, whether for the short term or the long term, and they deserve to live in properties that are safe, affordable and fit for purpose. This bill is bringing in many changes to the rental system across Victoria to achieve all of these aims. These amendments build upon rental laws brought into effect in 2021 enforcing the requirement of smoke alarms in rental properties, and through the passing of this bill the legislation will be extended to approximately 240,000 properties previously exempted from the ruling due to the previous legislation not applying respectively to properties – because everybody in Victoria deserves a safe place to live, without exception. Ms Williams in her second-reading speech on the bill spoke about the tireless advocacy of Therese and Jo Scarff for the extending of this regulation following the loss of their beloved family member Simon, and I would like to extend my sincere gratitude for their incredible resilience and work.

This bill also addresses the increasing rental costs that Victorians are facing. We all know that the cost of renting has increased significantly over the years. In a cost-of-living crisis this has put significant strain on the finances of renters. That is why we are improving the rental increase review framework through this bill. Renters can challenge a rent increase that they believe to be unreasonable by requesting a review by Consumer Affairs Victoria. Reasons for when that challenge can be raised include if the renter feels that the increase is higher than the market range. Consumer Affairs Victoria will then conduct an investigation into the market rental value of the property. This amendment will grant the power for additional matters to be taken into consideration by the director of Consumer Affairs Victoria and the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in a rent review. Further reforms in regard to leases will be introduced to increase renters’ security by extending notice periods from 60 to 90 days for rent increases, and that also applies to notices to vacate for private rentals, rooming houses, caravan parks and residential parks. At the time of a rental property’s advertisement or leasing, owners must ensure that it meets the minimum rental standards. Empowering the regulator will enforce minimum rental standards as legislated in 2018, highlighting these standards as a basic expectation. Through these changes Victorian renters can expect both affordable and safe housing.

In addition to these amendments, we are also addressing the collection of unnecessary and extensive personal data for the purpose of assessing a rental application by standardising rental application forms and introducing penalties for rental agencies and private landlords for not complying with the regulations. To further enshrine safety for renters, private information data collected by these individuals and agencies must be protected to the extent considered reasonable, as well as destroying and de-identifying personal information. There will be further penalties for failure to comply. With data breaches of rental agencies from third parties over the past few years, this is a critical change that will bring assurances to Victorian renters.

This bill also prohibits additional rental application fees being tacked on by agencies. This will bring us even closer towards ridding the state of these secret charges and towards a place where renters know how much they have to fork out from the get-go. No-cause evictions will be prohibited under this new legislation to further ensure renters’ housing security. There will be no changes to valid reasons for evictions, including damage to property and owners moving into the property. This is about making the rental market fair and equitable for renters to participate in. It would simply be antithetical to the idea of a competitive, fair and equitable rental market to allow these subversions of expectations to continue for renters. That is why the Allan Labor government is making further amendments to legislation passed in 2018 to prevent the solicitation of rental bidding, extending it to a ban on accepting any unsolicited rental bid or accepting more than a month’s rent in advance. All of these legislative amendments come together to provide Victorian renters safe, affordable and fit-for-purpose housing. I am proud of the Allan Labor government’s commitment to renters’ rights across the state.

To ensure compliance with all regulations, we are mandating licensing and training. This may sound straightforward and like a commonsense reform, but it is not the status quo. Currently not all professionals in the rental agency industry require licensing or training to work in the field. To me, this is a very risky thing. Having professionals with proper training and licensing can be the difference between not just a good and bad deal but a safe housing arrangement and an insecure one that can put Victorian renters at risk by those who are not suitably qualified and acting in their best interests. Lack of education and professional training leads to poorer outcomes for renters. With such a large swathe of renters set to move into Melbourne and Victoria over the next two decades, it is imperative that we get this right.

With a third of Victorians renting, we need to get on to these problems early so that we are not building shoddy apartments en masse and that landlords are not renting out shoddy apartments using uneducated and unlicensed agents, because these problems can cause distress and, in some cases, personal harm. It can put some renters at risk of financial instability, health problems and other potential harm. Through this bill, registration will be mandated for agents and representatives, including property managers and sales consultants, through an amendment to the Estate Agents Act 1980 – those who are in direct contact with renters and property owners, ensuring that they have the necessary qualifications to assure both renters and owners. While under the current model the real estate agency is responsible for determining an employee’s suitability for engaging in this work, this arrangement will not be sufficient moving forward.

We need higher standards of care and diligence from our agencies as we begin to build and rent more homes out for Victorians, and that is exactly what we are doing. This amendment will require a determination from the Business Licensing Authority that they meet the eligibility criteria for registration. This eligibility criteria will remain applicable, as it was previously, with an added guarantee from the government overseeing the process rather than relying on agencies to uphold these standards themselves. These checks include the requirement to hold a certificate IV qualification in real estate practice. The Allan Labor government is also amending the Owners Corporations Act 2006. This amendment will be extending the registration requirements for owners corporation managers to an individual in effective control of an owners corporation management business rather than a corporation as a legal person. This ensures that registration requirements are more effectively enforced upon individuals rather than subverting this with a corporation in management. In effect, this will require officers in effective control to hold the necessary education requirements to be registered. This will further ensure that the property management can meet the statutory obligations to enact best practices when engaging in these activities. This hits the point I made earlier about improving standards and oversight in this space.

We cannot keep leaving it up to the agencies and private firms to police themselves. That is a clear place for the state government, to maintain standards of professionalism. Mandatory ongoing professional development will be brought in by this amendment for estate agents, agents’ representatives, conveyancers and owners corporation managers in effective control of the business to ensure continuing and up-to-date understanding of their legal and ethical obligations, improving outcomes for renters, owners and employees.

Stronger penalties for real estate agents and sellers who break the law are also being legislated, particularly to prevent bad-faith actors from misrepresenting a consumer’s rights or obligations in a housing market that is increasingly pressured. The maximum penalty issued for a misrepresentation of a property’s estimated selling price or failure to revise this value when it is no longer reasonable will be increased from 200 units to 240 units. We are tightening the screws to make sure that agencies and actors are properly licensed and up to scratch and increasing the penalties to deter any bad actors from ripping off tenants and consumers. This market, like any market, is built on trust and reputation, but when the agency misrepresents information as a way to pull the wool over the eyes of potential renters, then it is a serious matter. An estate agent engaging in this sort of activity could be looking at a hefty $45,500 fine approximately for an offence. This is an increase from the former value of around $6000. A property seller could face the same maximum fine for misrepresentations, and discretionary powers of courts to confiscate estate agents’ commissions will be extended to cover a full range of underquoting offences. This is because the Allan Labor government takes consumer rights seriously, especially when it comes to renters’ rights and entitlements, because at the end of the day, these dodgy practices can harm tenants in the place where they live, and boosting the penalties and fines for misleading agency information for owners and tenants is part of protecting renters in Victoria.

This will support the work of Consumer Affairs Victoria, Victoria’s underquoting taskforce, which enforces and monitors compliance and underquoting restrictions across the state. These restrictions prevent prospective buyers and renters from wasting their time inspecting and applying for properties that are being misrepresented. This includes prospective renters who cannot afford or do not wish to rent or purchase at that price, maintaining the dignity of both the renters and the buyers as per the red tape commissioner’s review and subsequent report titled Turning Best Practice into Common Practice: Planning and Building Approvals Process Review Report to Government.

We are implementing the commissioner’s recommendations through amending the Planning and Environment Act 1987. We are changing the planning scheme amendment process to improve transparency and efficiency of the system. To do so, we are bringing in a new low-impact amendment pathway for less complex amendments or those expected to be limited in impact. These will still be the subject of public consultation, but unresolved submissions will now be considered by the planning authority and the outcomes reported to the minister. Rather than being subject to the referral and consideration of the planning panel, those applications to the new amendment pathway will be determined by the Minister for Planning, and within the bill the power to regulate the types of amendments suitable for this pathway prescribed. The Allan Labor government is formalising this process with proper, proponent-led amendments and consideration by all councils, requiring them to advise the person and the Minister for Planning of the council’s decision and their request. This will help to provide increased transparency and clarity on the process as a whole and also allow the Minister for Planning to make decisions on whether amendments or partial amendments left by the planning authority are to proceed.

The bill will also improve efficiency and punctuality of the planning permit application process by empowering an overarching authority of regulators to undertake initial reviews of applications. They can seek out further information as required by the Planning and Environment Act at the commencement of the process. If the required information is not provided by the applicant, the responsible authority can decide to reject the application. The Minister for Planning, in line with these changes, can issue guidelines which the responsible authority can take into consideration when determining who to give notice to based on that detriment. Currently the default planning expiry timeframes through the Planning and Environment Act can be short where larger or complex development is concerned, and there is significant administrative burden on developers to apply and receive permanent extensions repeatedly. Through this bill we are extending the default planning permit expiry times for the use of the development of the land to be within three years after the use of the permit and up to two years if it does not start within that period unless specified by the permit. With that, I will now commend the bill to the house.

Sonja TERPSTRA (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (11:46): I also rise to make a contribution on the Consumer and Planning Legislation Amendment (Housing Statement Reform) Bill 2024. It is a critically important bill that is before the house. Our government, the Allan Labor government, is committed to making renting easier, fairer and cheaper. What we do know is that often, for many, renting is a transition to property ownership. People might start renting a property, they might share a property with a number of people or they might have a property that has four bedrooms, sharing. I know some have mentioned this in their contributions as well, but often students who might be fortunate enough to rent an older property can rent out the rooms and share the expense amongst themselves. That enables people to then be able to make some savings if they can, knowing that it is a transitional phase, it is not a permanent thing, but it is something that might help them on the way to home ownership.

Home ownership is something that people in my region often talk to me about. I was just out at Deakin University the other day attending O week, which is how young people now refer to orientation week. I still call it orientation week, but you know, O week, to use the correct, younger person’s lingo. What I did do was take the opportunity to talk to some students there about their desire, need and want for home ownership and about how difficult they are finding it to actually enter into the housing market. I know as a parent of children – one is in their 20s and one is approaching their 20s – that they have expressed concern to me that they have pretty much given up on their dream of owning a property. That is what the students at Deakin University were saying as well, that they pretty much felt like they have had to give up on their dream of owning a home. I was very alarmed about hearing that, so I took the full opportunity to tell those students at Deakin University who were attending O week about the things that the Allan Labor government is doing to help them –

A member interjected.

Sonja Terpstra: I know – into the housing market. I told them not only what the Allan Labor government is doing but also about the problems that have been created in terms of housing shortages and the lack of available housing was also contributed to by the then Morrison Liberal government, because they did nothing for 10 years on housing. After I unpacked that for them, I said to them, ‘These are some of the reasons as to why we’ve got problems with the housing market, but there is help available’, and they were very grateful to hear about all the things that we are doing. That was a little bit surprising to me. I guess surprising and unsurprising in the same way, because we know that a lot of people disengage from listening to mainstream media and particularly following politics because they find it very negative and unrelenting, so of course I understand that often people will tune out rather than listen to all the negativity. I guess the downside to that is that they are also not hearing the positive messages and the positive options that might be available to them. Nevertheless we went through all the things that we are doing and the fact that they have options: there are build-to-rent schemes; we are making housing a lot more affordable; for those kids or people who might need it, there are lots of social and public housing options that are available; and we have a housing statement that outlines a 10-year plan to improve housing supply.

One of the things that we know is that not everyone wants a house with huge backyard. There is a great need for diversity of housing. If you look at some of the houses that were built 40 or 50 years ago, the idea was that you had a three-bedroom house on a quarter-acre block and you had a backyard. People do not really want that type of housing these days. What you do see in a lot of communities is where there once was one house on a quarter-acre block, you now might see four townhouses. People do not necessarily want a large backyard, because if they are busy and working and studying, they may not necessarily have the time to devote to mowing and caring for their gardens. That tells us that people want a diversity of housing options. They do not want the same things everywhere. I know Ms Shing, as the Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, has talked a lot about this in this chamber. The opportunity that we are taking up in building the SRL is to make sure that we put in more affordable housing options for people so that they can live in the places where they grew up, or close to where they grew up, and close to public transport.

I go back to talking to young people at O week at Deakin University. I know that in, for example, the Manningham LGA there are no rail or tram options. The only thing they have in that part of my region is buses. If you want to try and catch a bus to Deakin University or to Monash University, you are going to catch about four buses and you are going to spend many hours on public transport trying to get there. That is demonstrably unfair to young people in my region. When I talked about the Suburban Rail Loop and the housing options that are going to be available, the young people at Deakin University I was speaking to were absolutely welcoming of all of these fantastic opportunities. The young people I spoke to said, ‘Oh, I didn’t know that that was going to happen.’ I said, ‘Yes, absolutely. There is going to be plenty of affordable housing options for you right next to public transport and close to where you grew up.’ The young people I was speaking to were saying, ‘Oh, wow. That means I don’t even have to have a car. I don’t need to drive it. I don’t need to find somewhere to park it. It means I don’t even have to be on the road.’

It goes to show that people in my region and across Victoria, across all different age groups and brackets, want options about how they get around this city and about where they want to live – to be close to the things and services that they need. It is only a Labor government that does these things. Like I said, we are providing a suite of housing options, whether that be public or social housing, right up to affordable housing and housing, in places where people want to live.

On 20 October 2023 the government released our housing statement, which was the 10-year plan to increase housing supply and affordability for Victorians. We followed that up with a suite of additional and complementary reforms in October 2024 as part of our more homes, more opportunities package. Of course – and I talked about this earlier – we have also introduced a large suite of rental reforms, because people who live in rentals want to have pets. Before that was a barrier. Landlords and real estate agents would often use it as a barrier to not accept rental tenancy applications as well. That was unfair, so we have made changes to those things as well.

We are doing a number of other things, like strengthening the planning system by implementing the red tape commissioner recommendations and related reforms. I know, for example, one of the other reforms we have done is remove the requirement to have a permit when you are building a smaller granny flat on a property. Again, people in my region talk to me about the fact that they might have an elderly relative who does not want to necessarily leave their house or their property just yet, but they have the room in their backyard to build a granny flat. That is a really nice option for them. It means that all the families can live together. They can have the elder person in their granny flat in the backyard who can help with child care if they want to. I know that when some people retire, they become very, very busy – too busy in fact to take care of any grandparenting duties because they are so busy.

Jacinta Ermacora interjected.

Sonja TERPSTRA: As a newly minted grandparent down there sitting next to Ms Shing just affirmed. Again, it is about options. It is not about saying that every house has to be the same, that we need to have a cookie-cutter approach to housing.

When I was talking to this young person at O Week, what they told me was that they were very welcoming of the reforms that are on the table and they were looking forward to becoming a renter for the first time in their life. I know this is not something that those opposite can appreciate, because they keep weaponising this, but if I ask a room full of young people about whether they want to remain renters for life or whether they want to become homeowners, the answer is resoundingly: I want to own my own home. That is the resounding answer. There may be a very small number of people who want to remain renters for the duration, and that might be simply because they might have an occupation that requires them to travel around a lot so they may not be able to be grounded in one place for any extended period of time. Their job or their role that they hold down might require them to move every couple of years so they might have a requirement to be renters for long periods of time, but that is why we have recognised that the rental system needs to be changed. We have improved regulations in that market area as well. That is something that has come as a great sense of relief to people who rent.

But again, young people are clearly expressing the desire to me, resoundingly, that they want to enter the property market. Unfortunately, what we have seen is that the reforms that the Howard Liberal government introduced about negative gearing many, many years ago have meant that a number of very wealthy people have become very wealthy landowners, landholders and landlords and benefited from those reforms. Home ownership is actually about putting a roof over your head, not about becoming rich at the expense of people who otherwise, for a variety of reasons, have been precluded from entering the housing market. One of the barriers to housing, for example, is the ability to actually even save for a deposit on a house, a 10 per cent deposit. That is cost prohibitive as well.

The challenges we see with young people today are even in the world of work. And I have had conversations with people who say to me things like, ‘Well, you know, when I was a young person, I was able to live at home and save.’ But I often point out to people that may not be aware that young people today may have to live at home for extended periods because they no longer have the benefit of secure employment. When I started work, I was able to get a full-time, ongoing, permanent role, but today those roles are few and far between, and young people find themselves trapped or locked into employment that is precarious and low paid. We know on this side of the chamber that one of the pathways out of insecure employment can often be TAFE. TAFE offers a range of free TAFE options that young people can access to gain skills and upgrade their qualifications, which can put them on a pathway leading out of insecure work and into well-paid work that recognises the skills and qualifications they have.

Again, I reflect back on what people in my region are telling me, which is that they want to become home owners, not wealthy landowning barons of vast property empires. I ask anybody who may be watching at home as well to reflect on the society that has been created because of rules that have benefited people who have been able to make a lot of money out of the tax treatment of various things because of the rules. Now we have got a situation where people cannot enter the property market. I know parents and grandparents alike have also expressed to me the concern that perhaps their children or grandchildren are not going to be able to enter the property market. That is of concern to parents and grandparents alike. Those opposite will tell us that they get a lot of complaints from mum-and-dad investors about a whole range of things, but it is equally true that there are an equal number of people who are parents and grandparents who tell me they have concerns about their children or grandchildren being able to enter the property market. That is something that they want to see happen. They want to be able to support their children or grandchildren in transitioning out of being renters into the housing market.

I know we are about to bump into question time, and I am watching the clock pretty intently. I have a minute or something left on the clock, so I am waiting for a message or a nod from el Presidente to say to me, ‘You can leave it there, and we will go to question time.’ Or I can keep going for 1 minute and 36. What do you want, el Presidente? I do not know.

The PRESIDENT: You have got another 20 seconds.

Sonja TERPSTRA: Just give me a nod and I will wind it up there. Standing up for renters’ rights – all those things, all those wonderful slogans that we put out in the market. This is an important bill. It is a very important bill because it speaks to all of the values and things that we know our Labor government will do for people who are renters and young people who want to enter the housing market. We know that that is a very important thing.

The PRESIDENT: I apologise, Ms Terpstra, I need to interrupt you.

Business interrupted under standing orders.