❓ Hon Wilson Tucker questions the Minister for Commerce on WA's stance on rental tenancy law reforms at the upcoming national cabinet meeting, particularly regarding no-grounds evictions. The Minister outlines WA's approach, balancing renter protections with concerns about investment property supply, and highlights ongoing reviews and national cabinet discussions.
AnsweredQoN 852Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
RENTAL TENANCY LAWS
852. Hon WILSON TUCKER to the Minister for Commerce:
I
have a question, which is entirely without notice, for the Minister for
Commerce. There is a national cabinet meeting tomorrow, which I am sure the
minister is keenly aware of, and housing and rental tenancy laws are on the
agenda.
(1) Could the
minister give this house an idea of what aspects of rental tenancy laws she
would like to see agreed to at the national cabinet meeting?
(2) Is the
minister open to listening to the position of the majority of the other states
and territories that have scrapped no-grounds evictions?
852. Hon WILSON TUCKER to the Minister for Commerce:
I
have a question, which is entirely without notice, for the Minister for
Commerce. There is a national cabinet meeting tomorrow, which I am sure the
minister is keenly aware of, and housing and rental tenancy laws are on the
agenda.
(1) Could the
minister give this house an idea of what aspects of rental tenancy laws she
would like to see agreed to at the national cabinet meeting?
(2) Is the
minister open to listening to the position of the majority of the other states
and territories that have scrapped no-grounds evictions?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the
question.
(1)–(2) A
couple of things. Firstly, the national cabinet decision is that they hope to
reach a decision on an agreed position by the end of the year. The meeting that
is being held this week I do not believe will finalise the work that is going to be done on housing and on
addressing rental reforms. The other point to make is that each state
makes its decision based on the circumstances faced in each state. I understand
the arguments for scrapping no-fault evictions, because I had to think about
this and consider all the views very carefully. I met on numerous occasions with the Make Renting Fair campaign, and
separately to it as a campaign team , I
met with the individual organisations as well, including Shelter WA, Anglicare
and all those organisations to consider how we get the balance right.
The decision that we made contained a
range of measures to assist current renters, but this government has made no secret that the problem we face is
with supply. The real question is, and I provided this answer to an
earlier question today: to what extent do we put pressure on those people who
might be making a decision about whether they invest in a long-term versus a short-term
rental property; and do we create a situation whereby that decision is
influenced by how much power they have to make decisions about their own
investment property? As I said earlier today, we erred conservatively on the
side of not wanting to take a further risk to supply. Two pieces of work are
ongoing. One is the second tranche of the review into the Residential Tenancies
Act. That work is underway. The second is the work that is being done by
national cabinet. I expect that national cabinet will say something about
housing matters out of this week's meeting, but the decision to address
more broadly renters' rights is a piece of work that national cabinet
has committed to complete by the end of the year.
question.
(1)–(2) A
couple of things. Firstly, the national cabinet decision is that they hope to
reach a decision on an agreed position by the end of the year. The meeting that
is being held this week I do not believe will finalise the work that is going to be done on housing and on
addressing rental reforms. The other point to make is that each state
makes its decision based on the circumstances faced in each state. I understand
the arguments for scrapping no-fault evictions, because I had to think about
this and consider all the views very carefully. I met on numerous occasions with the Make Renting Fair campaign, and
separately to it as a campaign team , I
met with the individual organisations as well, including Shelter WA, Anglicare
and all those organisations to consider how we get the balance right.
The decision that we made contained a
range of measures to assist current renters, but this government has made no secret that the problem we face is
with supply. The real question is, and I provided this answer to an
earlier question today: to what extent do we put pressure on those people who
might be making a decision about whether they invest in a long-term versus a short-term
rental property; and do we create a situation whereby that decision is
influenced by how much power they have to make decisions about their own
investment property? As I said earlier today, we erred conservatively on the
side of not wanting to take a further risk to supply. Two pieces of work are
ongoing. One is the second tranche of the review into the Residential Tenancies
Act. That work is underway. The second is the work that is being done by
national cabinet. I expect that national cabinet will say something about
housing matters out of this week's meeting, but the decision to address
more broadly renters' rights is a piece of work that national cabinet
has committed to complete by the end of the year.
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