Hansard debates

Mrs McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (19:03): My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Consumer Affairs, Gaming and Liquor Regulation. Recently rental legislation which was passed prior to the conclusion of the 58th Parliament came into effect. Landlords in my constituency have expressed their frustration to me over their loss of control over their own properties. In one constituent’s words, the new rental rules ‘have swung the pendulum way too far in the renter’s direction’. The new legislation removes the control of landlords over their own properties in relation to tenants’ possession of pets and other internal changes, unless they proactively initiate costly and potentially lengthy cases at VCAT. The government tries to paint landlords as wealthy property investors, house flippers and exploiters of lower income earning families. This is not the case. Many landlords are simply families who have relocated and have retained ownership in a former home, renting it out to cover the costs of relocation. These new rules will force many landlords to remove their property from the rental market.

In western Victoria there is a worker crisis. This is compounded in some towns, such as Warrnambool and Colac, with a housing crisis. The vacancy rate in Warrnambool’s rental market is 1.2 per cent. How can we expect people to move to the regions, to lessen congestion in the city and to solve the country’s worker crisis when landlord regulations are so burdensome that renting is virtually impossible and there is no incentive to invest in rental infrastructure? This is going to be further compounded, I would suggest, by the virus that we are enduring, where some people might be forced out of their homes and into the rental market. Now, without houses to rent, they are going to be in serious trouble, let alone the people that need housing in welfare situations. There is just nothing available. We have women living in cars outside police stations because there is no housing, and that is happening in Colac. The action I seek is for the minister to relax rental regulations to increase housing supply and to reduce the burden on landlords.