Page 208 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 15 February 2012
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I then retabled the final bill last August. I stood in here and I again said, “We are open to discussions on this.” I personally raised with the minister our willingness to have this conversation. I suggested that we have a meeting with officials to brief them on the intent of the bill and to discuss specific areas of concern. That offer was never taken up. That is why, in the government’s bodgie costings that came forward, they have done things like costing full-grade security screens for every government house, something we never proposed.
Ms Burch: Where are your costings?
MR RATTENBURY: If you had listened to my speech, Ms Burch, you would understand the answer to your own question. You should listen.
The government brought forward a set of bodgie modelling because they never even bothered to engage in a conversation about dealing with 30 per cent of the housing stock in this city. That is a poor reflection on the Labor Party, and I think it is a real let-down of this significant group of constituents.
Let me turn to why this bill is important. When I tabled this speech last August, I read out a number of emails that I had received from people who would be affected by the benefits of this legislation. We had an email from an Evatt resident saying, “I am no longer a renter but I longed for this sort of legislation when I was renting.” There are other ones along these lines. This is perhaps the most telling of them, from a Kambah resident who said:
My partner and I are in a rental property (an old government house) in Kambah, with zero insulation, wooden floors and sheer curtains. The floors are admittedly OK in summer but for at least six months in the cold seasons they are really not okay. There is no insulation between them and earth outside. There is no insulation full stop.
The constituent then goes on to talk about how she has had to use bleach to get rid of the mould and how the landlord is completely unwilling to upgrade the property in any way to make it more liveable.
That is exactly why this bill is important. That is why it is an absolute shame that this Assembly has not taken it more seriously, that there has not been some discussion about it. I hope that members will walk away today wondering what they are going to do, and taking seriously what they are going to do, to improve the lot of renters in this city.
Question put:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
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