Renting laws debated in parliament

Yesterday was a huge day for renting law in  NSW.

At lunch together with Everybody's Home, we organised an event today at Parliament bringing together renters, housing academics, campaign supporters, and MP decision makers.

We heard from Keith – a renter who has lived in seven homes over the last ten years.

"I am sick and tired of being forced to move. I’ve figured out that each time we move it has cost us around $3000. No grounds evictions have totally disrupted my family’s life."

Dr Emma Power spoke about her research on the experiences of older women renters and the hardships they face. Russell Rodrigo, a property investor, spoke about how the proposed reforms are actually in landlords' interests - because they will foster better relationships and improved stability.

Russell, Dr Emma Power, Dr Chris Martin and Keith Young.

Then at around 5pm the fun really started. The debate started for the Residential Tenancies Amendment. As expected, the Government spoke to their bill and emphasised the positive steps it is taking.

Labor spoke strongly for the need to end unfair no grounds evictions and made clear that while there other issues in our renting system, that getting the fundamental fix of ending no grounds evictions would be the focus of their work on this bill.

Jenny Leong for the Greens moved 20 amendments to the bill raising a number of issues that so many tenants raise. Her amendments ranged from big ticket items like pets and rent increases, to more focussed improvements to the current bill, like a number of additional minimum standards.

The three Legislative Assembly Greens were joined by Alex Greenwich of Sydney to vote and support these amendments. With independents Joe McGirr of Wagga Wagga and Greg Piper of Port Macquarie. joining them for some issues, like supporting an end to blanket bans for tenants to keep pets.

Labor did not support these various amendments in the current bill, but made several commitments throughout the night to return to many of these issues and we look forward to discussing those issues with them soon.

Once the Legislative Assembly completed their deliberations, the bill was immediately raced over to the Legislative Council. The parties made generally the same points again. But significantly, Paul Green speaking for the Christian Democratic Party stated:

We believe this bill, for the most part, strikes a good balance... However, I encourage the Government to acknowledge the challenges faced by tenants regarding no grounds termination and implore it to approach such terminations based only on reasonable grounds. I have contacted the Government about this matter but is chosen not to go that way. I give an early indication that we will listen very carefully to consideration of amendments moved by Labor and The Greens in Committee. We feel that we are compelled to do so, given the Government has fallen short of supporting some of the State's most vulnerable people.

We applaud the CDP for making this statement. It reminds us all that good law-making is the responsibility of all within Parliament. A commitment to that responsibility is not confined to any one party, or any one approach. 

But with that, the debate was adjourned - it will be back on October 16. This is a crucial time for renters rights in NSW. Get involved with the Make Renting Fair campaign to hear about how you can help bring this thing home.