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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 11 Hansard (6 November) . . Page.. 3765 ..

MS REILLY (continuing):

One of the other things that I need to mention in relation to this Bill since it was presented in May is the level of community consultation. Because of the fact that we all did it individually, there was some duplication. When a Bill impacts on such a broad range of people and has the interest of many members of the house, I think we need to work out a better method of consultation. I am sure that some of the major stakeholders were a bit tired of seeing us individually. When we reached the stage of doing some of the amendments there would have been an opportunity to involve them more closely in a more integrated way, and I think that would have helped with all our considerations.

Overall, it has been an interesting experience and we are now going to get, at the end of the twentieth century, probably twentieth century residential tenancy legislation. There are many important parts of it that are going to be beneficial for everybody in the ACT. For the first time in the ACT, private and public tenants will be under the same legal framework. This is going to be important, particularly, for public tenants. I think that in the past they have been disadvantaged because many aspects of their tenancies were administered through internal guidelines and processes. That has not always been helpful for them or for the people administering the Acts, or for other people who are affected by the results of public tenancies. Public tenants, once this Bill is passed and comes into effect, will have the opportunity to operate under the same terms and conditions as private tenants. They will have the same terms of residential tenancy agreements as all other tenants in the ACT and, of course, they will also have the same opportunities to go before the Residential Tenancies Tribunal for variations of the terms.

They also will have the opportunity to go before the tribunal in relation to matters dealing with repairs and maintenance. This is an area of grave concern for a lot of public tenants. Complaints about maintenance not being done expeditiously continue to dominate the calls that I receive in my office. At times, for those that are on the receiving end of this, this can be dangerous. It sets up situations where people are not living in safe conditions and it is also frustrating for the tenants concerned. I think it is going to lead to a better outcome for all concerned if the tenants have the opportunity to go to the Residential Tenancies Tribunal when all avenues through ACT Housing fail to get a good result. I think this is positive for both the tenants and the landlord in this situation because we will have a much better public housing system in the ACT through this.

It is also important for all tenants in the ACT to have an up-to-date Residential Tenancies Act because 30 per cent of the ACT community are renters. They contribute a considerable amount to the ACT economy. ACT Housing tenants alone contribute $43m to the ACT revenue base and economy every year. This does not take into account the money that is spent when repairs and maintenance are done, the goods that are purchased, and workmen's payments. So renters are an important part of our economy. At times, with the supremacy of home ownership in Australia, I think the role in the community of renters is sometimes overlooked. Many people choose to rent because of the economy. They are being forced, in some cases, to rent longer. In order to be more flexible and to be able to respond to the job market, a number of people are choosing to rent so that they can move more quickly into other areas where there may be jobs.

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