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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 10 Hansard (4 September) . . Page.. 3099 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

As a result, I had a meeting with Lend Lease and they expressed their desire to resolve their disputes with their tenants; and I will say, Mr Speaker, that Lend Lease has substantially achieved that goal since I named them on the floor of this house. They had, I think, a number of problems. They have, if not totally resolved those problems, all but resolved those problems through a process in which the Consumer Affairs Bureau was involved and which I think the tenants in Woden Plaza would feel has been just and fair to them. At least that is the impression I gained from my own discussions with some of them.

Mr Moore: So why do we need a tribunal at all?

MR HUMPHRIES: Because some disputes are not resolved in that forum; such as those involving, at the moment, tenants at the Tuggeranong Hyperdome. Mr Speaker, the landlord at the Hyperdome is Leda. Leda is a company which has had a number of problems with tenants in the Hyperdome. I had proposed a similar process of dispute resolution which had been initiated by the Consumer Affairs Bureau in the context of the Hyperdome tenants, and those tenants were anxious to engage in that process. Initially, Leda were reluctant to have involvement by the people from the Consumer Affairs Bureau. They have subsequently accepted that involvement as appropriate and are now in the process of engaging in that kind of direct dispute resolution process.

Mr Osborne: It is too late; they have shut them down and put them out.

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, let me make this point: Mr Osborne seems to think that we need to pass this legislation for those tenants to be able to get the benefit of the legislation. That is not true. Those tenants are now before the tribunal; they are already part way down the process. Mr Moore's legislation will not facilitate any greater access to the tribunal. The people we are talking about - and you should check this out - are the ones who obviously have not initiated proceedings because they do not feel that they can be part of this process. I assume Mr Moore says that there are lots of those sorts of people out there. I have to say that I have not actually seen many of those people.

Mr Moore: Do they not like going to your office, Gary?

MR HUMPHRIES: Lots of other tenants have been to see me, Mr Moore, and have discussed these issues with me. I think I have indicated in more than clear terms - - -

Mr Moore: They have given up on you, Gary.

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, I do not mind a few interjections, but this is just a little much. We have taken the trouble to indicate clearly, from the outset, that we will protect the interests of tenants in these circumstances. My message in these areas has been unambiguous; on every occasion when I have been asked to intervene I have acted on the side of tenants. I have acted on the floor of this place to name a landlord who was acting unconscionably, in the view of the Government, and I will do so again when the circumstances warrant it. I believe the suggestion, which I think Mr Moore was trying to make, that we are actually not particularly keen to protect the interests of tenants is just not true.

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