I rise in support of this bill chiefly because it represents another critical step in the Allan Labor government’s work to ensure every Victorian has access to fair and secure housing.
Last year our government did release a landmark package of reforms to boost housing supply and affordability in our state to plan ahead for the inevitable growth Victoria will experience – growth that will see our population reach over 10 million by 2051. Planning for that kind of growth cannot be haphazard. It needs to be thoughtful, balanced and deliberate, and that is why we are doing the work now to ensure that as we grow, we are building livability, sustainability, accessibility and, importantly equity into the very fabric and structure and interconnectivity of our suburbs.
The inner north, which I represent, will be one of the areas which will undoubtedly see densification in years to come. Close to public transport, great schools, thriving precincts and beautiful waterways, Northcote is sought after as a place to live, and that is why at every opportunity in this Parliament and in my role as the member for Northcote I speak about how critical it is that we deliver both the homes that we need but also the amenities and services we need and how that equity is central to all of these efforts.
Almost 40 per cent of households in my electorate are renters, and while home ownership remains an important aspiration for many, tenancy is the immediate reality for thousands, whether by circumstance or by choice. For that reason our Labor government has made it a priority to progress an enormous amount of reforms in the time that we have had to give renters the support, security and safety that they need and deserve, because whether rented or owned, we want every house to feel like a home. As a result Victoria currently does have the strongest rental protections in the country, and building on this, our housing statement outlines protections that will go even further.
Rent increases will no longer be allowed between successive fixed-term contracts, meaning a landlord cannot evict a tenant and then list the property at a higher price. We are extending the notice to vacate and rental increase notice periods to 90 days, because renters should not be left to stress and scramble when facing these difficult circumstances. We are introducing a portable rental bond scheme. We are closing the loopholes on rental bidding and insisting on mandatory training and licensing for real estate agents, property managers, conveyancers and owners corporation managers.
We are making rental applications easier and protecting renters’ personal information, and we are delivering a $2 million rental distress support package so legal, financial and advocacy services are there for renters when they need them most.
But the reform that is the subject of this bill, which is a very welcome reform in Northcote, is the establishment of Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria. This marks a pivotal shift in the way tenancy disputes are looked at and resolved in our state, because goodness knows it is needed. Right now around 5 per cent of Victorian households are facing serious rental stress, meaning they are at risk of being evicted because they cannot afford to pay their rent, and countless more are dealing with homes that simply do not meet the minimum standards required under our legislation. Or there are others still who are at loggerheads with their landlords for a whole raft of reasons. Indeed over the years I have had contact from numerous residents living in the inner north about their living conditions and the frustration and disempowerment they feel in a system that, for the longest time, has not given renters the dignity and security that they deserve. One resident wrote to me about mould growing all throughout their home and severe structural damage that was making the bathroom floor begin to collapse inwards. Others have described homes that are becoming like a sauna on hot days or dropping to Arctic temperatures in winter months. In some circumstances I have heard of households relying on portable fans and plug-in heaters and air conditioners, which as you can appreciate leads to skyrocketing bills. Still others have been slugged with pretty shocking rental increases, with agents and landlords refusing to even communicate let alone negotiate.
Our homes should be a sanctuary in which to rest and recalibrate, a place to enjoy and take pride in, yet for too many they are a source of constant anxiety and trepidation. Establishing a dedicated body, Rental Dispute Resolution Victoria, will assist both renters and landlords by providing that alternative to VCAT for disputes over things like rent, damages, repairs and bonds. And I think it is important to recognise that when these disputes arise, they are often not in isolation. Lives are complex and rental disputes could be compounding a whole lot of other pressures in a person’s life. No system can prevent things going wrong all the time or prevent disputes arising, but the system must be robust enough and efficient enough to allow recourse when things do go awry. A quick resolution to a dispute as opposed to months upon months of waiting for a VCAT hearing can make a huge difference, not just to the material circumstances under which so many renters find themselves, but to their mental health and wellbeing too. VCAT should be a last resort for these sorts of things, and that is exactly what it will be under the new model that this bill takes forward.
As I said before, the correspondence I have received from my community underscores the urgent need for stronger enforcement of housing rights and fairer play in the property market. Renters have shared with me their sense of vulnerability, of precariousness, of apprehension for their futures and the stability and security of their families. Beyond this they have also shared with me their hopes and aspirations for a housing system in which the inalienable right of a secure home is honoured to its fullest. While home ownership will not be the path or the choice of every Victorian, it did give me heart to stand with the Minister for Consumer Affairs last weekend in Northcote alongside a dedicated task force from Consumer Affairs Victoria, a special task force proactively patrolling real estate auctions in my electorate and in the northern suburbs broadly to tackle underquoting. Underquoting is more than just an unfair practice, it is unlawful, and it undermines trust and integrity in our property market, so CAV have been monitoring auctions and have issued more than $1.1 million in fines to estate agents breaching the rules. For buyers it means navigating the market with more confidence and not wasting so much time, and for agents is about a level playing field so that the ones that are doing the right thing are on the same field as the ones that maybe are not.
The path to addressing housing pressures in Victoria cannot just be through words – it must be through action and real reform, and that is exactly what we have been doing as a Labor government.
Sadly, it is not a trajectory that we share with many of those opposite as the Greens and Liberals more often than not cosy up to oppose reform on housing policy. In terms of the Liberal Party, we cannot expect much else, but the real sinister element comes from their unlikely bedfellows in the Greens. Time and again we see the spectacle overshadowing the substance, because we know that they will get up in a debate like this to posture and to gaslight about how they alone are the champions of housing, meanwhile they will actively block housing development. It is such a ruse. Across the inner north of Melbourne, in councils like Yarra, Darebin and Merri-bek, hundreds of homes have been blocked or delayed at the hands of Greens councillors, and in debate after debate we get these Greens MPs getting up and disingenuously claiming support for housing security in these bizarre performative spectacles utterly disassociated from the reality of their obstructive and destructive influence on real-life, tangible housing projects in our communities.
This includes delaying 99 homes in Preston that thankfully will soon be opened but could have been opened much earlier if the Minister for Planning had not needed to call the development in and take it off Darebin council’s hands. When it comes to housing, the Greens are so clouded by their virtue signalling that they cannot even see their own hypocrisy – a hypocrisy that could not care less about the people needing homes but would block homes being built because they have ruthlessly calculated that they can get more political mileage out of that. In Northcote, as in the rest of Victoria, the need for housing options is acute and the cost of living is putting real pressure on households. Despite the obstructions and the fearmongering and the hypocrisy, the Allan Labor government will get on with building the homes that Victorians need, and not just that, we will pass bills like this to embed equity into our housing system.
I would like to thank both the Minister for Housing and the Minister for Consumer Affairs for their work and their willingness to engage on the pressures in my community. There are still more steps on the road to reform, including better enforcement of minimum rental standards and progressing the review that we have underway into minimum energy efficiency standards for rentals, but as the MP for Northcote, I will always fight for fair and secure housing.
