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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 14 Hansard (10 December) . . Page.. 4853 ..

MS HORODNY (continuing):

(iii) in any other case - the conduct occurs on or after the commencement of the Tenancy Tribunal (Amendment) Act 1997;

(b) in relation to a dispute referred to in paragraph 6(1)(b) or (d) - the conduct occurs on or after 1 January 1995; or

(c) in relation to a dispute referred to in paragraph 6(1)(e) -

(i) if the relevant lease is entered into, renewed or extended under an
option, on or after 1 January 1994 - the conduct occurs on or after 1 January 1995;

(ii) if the dispute relates to a provision of a lease, being a provision varied on or after 1 January 1994 - the conduct occurs on or after 1 January 1995; or

(iii) in any other case Ñ the conduct occurs on or after the commencement of the Tenancy Tribunal (Amendment) Act 1997.'.".

Mr Speaker, in 1996 the Assembly debated some important amendments to the Tenancy Act to expand the range of people who could appear before the tribunal to include those who entered into a lease before 1 January 1995. The Tenancy Act and code are flawed for a number of reasons. For example, disputes about multiple-rent review clauses or ratchet clauses are currently not covered by the Tenancy Act if leases were entered into before 1 January 1995. Claims by a party to a lease that another party to the lease has breached or is breaching the code are not covered by the Tenancy Act if the lease was entered into before 1 January 1995.

Unfortunately, in the previous debate on this issue last year, the Labor and Liberal parties voted together to prevent access to the tribunal for people who entered into a lease before 1995. One of the main arguments they used, which I believe is fundamentally flawed, was retrospectivity, despite the fact that the Bill did not call for the code to apply retrospectively to conduct. Mr Speaker, I think it is worth reminding members of the Residential Tenancy Bill that was recently passed. Within 18 months or two years of coming into force, the Bill will apply to all residential tenancies, regardless of when they were entered into. Yet in 1997, three years after the commercial tenancy legislation was enacted, tenants with leases entered into before 1995 have severely limited access to the code and the Tenancy Tribunal. There is an enormous inconsistency there.

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