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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 14 Hansard (10 December) . . Page.. 4806 ..

MS HORODNY (continuing):

In addition to supporting this Bill, the Greens have prepared an amendment which has been circulated and which I will move later. Mr Moore said in his tabling speech that he would be open to amendments to expand the range of people who could appear before the tribunal to include those who entered a lease before 1 January 1995. My amendment is the same as the amendment that was defeated in 1996, but I am giving the Labor and Liberal parties an opportunity to reconsider their position and to show their support for small business.

We welcome the Government's proposed amendments in relation to unconscionable conduct; but, of course, those amendments do not go far enough. Many issues have been forgotten, unfortunately, in the recommendations of the working group. The tenants group - CARTA, the Commercial and Retail Tenants Association - has made a number of recommendations which have not been included in the recommendations of the working party report, "Commercial and Retail Tenancy Legislation into the 21st Century", and working through those recommendations will be work for the next Assembly, and certainly will be something that the Greens will take up in the next Assembly.

There are a number of issues that that working party review did not look at adequately. One is the right to renew leases. For instance, where a landlord unreasonably refuses to renew a lease, a tenant should be able to obtain compensation. Compensation should also be made where a tenant's trade is interfered with. Another issue that was not looked at was applying the code to all leases - that is something which our amendment seeks to address - and independent valuation of rental where there is a dispute about rent. There are currently many conflicts of interest, so it is very important that independent valuations be made.

The Government is concerned to make the tribunal work more effectively, and obviously an important issue here is mediation. I was pleased to hear Mr Humphries talk about the need for mediation. We would also like to see that we have very well qualified mediators doing that work and, of course, it is important that that mediation work be adequately resourced.

MR WOOD (11.47): Mr Speaker, it has been the Labor Party's stated position that we would prefer to wait to see the report of the working party before voting and acting on any proposed changes to the existing legislation. That working party did take a long time. We have been aware that tenants do need greater protection than they have had in the past, and that delay has been a concern. Nevertheless, we now have that report. Only last week, I think, we received it on our tables. I have had a reasonable look at it in that time. As we consider the amendments, I will commit the Labor Party to take some action - perhaps tomorrow, if we can adjourn this debate - if they are not in conflict with the report of the working party. No government or parliament holds to reports in their entirety. They are there for our information and advice. We may go beyond anything a report says, or take very little notice of it, as people are prone to do.

This morning we have seen amendments, first from Mr Humphries and then from Ms Horodny, placed on our tables. I have had nothing but a fairly cursory glance at those, and then only the courtesy of Mr Berry's 40 minutes and a little extra time spent on that first debate this morning. I indicate at this stage that when we get past the

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