Page 1379 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 3 May 2016
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MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo—Minister for Corrections, Minister for Education, Minister for Justice and Consumer Affairs and Minister for Road Safety) (11.00): I move:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
I am pleased to present the report of the review of the Retirement Villages Act 2012 and the Retirement Villages Amendment Bill 2016. I made a statement in this place in August last year about the review of the Retirement Villages Act. I informed members about the progress of the review and the anticipated time frame.
As some of you may recall, the Retirement Villages Act commenced on 4 March 2013. The act replaced the former retirement villages code of practice, which had been made under the Fair Trading Act 1992. The review of the act was a legislative requirement. Section 265 of the act requires the minister to review the act as soon as practicable after the end of the second year of operation. The review of the act is now complete. The Retirement Villages Amendment Bill proposes amendments to the act in response to the recommendations made in the review.
Before I discuss the amendments proposed by the bill, I would like to take some time to discuss the review process. Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the invaluable assistance of the Retirement Villages Act review advisory group. This dedicated group of stakeholders helped inform the terms of reference for the review and to develop its final recommendations.
The review advisory group included representatives of the ACT Retirement Village Residents Association, the ACT Property Council Retirement Living Committee, Aged and Community Services Australia association of ACT and New South Wales, the ACT Human Rights Commission, the Law Society, the Council on the Ageing, the Canberra Multicultural Community Forum and the LGBTIQ ministerial advisory council. I would like to formally thank the review advisory group for their invaluable contribution to the review and to the bill I am tabling today.
The purpose of the review was to see whether the act was operating effectively. Extensive public consultation was conducted for the review. Four public forums were held during the consultation period. Three forums were held at major ACT retirement villages, and JACS received 37 written submissions during the public consultation period.
Public consultation indicated that the act is generally operating well but identified some areas for improvement. Issues raised included dispute resolution processes, village budgets, replacement and maintenance of capital items, retirement village contracts, safety and security, departure fees, affordable models for retirement villages, resident input to decisions, contributions, recurrent charges and different retirement village models.
The bill proposes amendments to the Retirement Villages Act in response to the recommendations of the review. Public consultation during the review indicated that
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