Page 415 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 21 March 2023
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
At a private meeting on 1 March 2023, the committee resolved to conduct an inquiry into penalties for minor offences and vulnerable people. The committee will inquire into and report on administrative penalties for minor offences in respect of vulnerable people, with particular reference to:
• impacts of fines on vulnerable people;
• suitability of existing formal government guidelines for considering treatment of vulnerable people in administering penalties;
• impacts of prosecution for vulnerable people for non-payment of fines;
• suitability of current ACT government alternative measures to fines;
• alternatives to prosecution for non-payment of fines; and
• how to maximise compliance with legislation, particularly for young people.
The committee called for public submissions on 6 March this year.
Residential Tenancies Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
Debate resumed from 30 November 2022, on motion by Mr Rattenbury:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
MR PARTON (Brindabella) (11.15): The Canberra Liberals will not be supporting this bill, and we will not be supporting it, because we remain firmly of the belief that it will hurt the people that it is designed to help.
As an elected member of this place, my focus is entirely on outcomes. I want to do things that make people’s lives better, and I would think that is what we should all be aiming for. This bill was drafted with the intention of making life better for renters. I am not convinced that it will achieve that; in fact, I am quite convinced that it will achieve the exact opposite.
Canberra is in the middle of the worst rental affordability crisis in our history, and there is no doubt that these changes will send more investors out of the market. The government’s own research into this bill indicated to them that this bill would see investors exiting the market. One of the government’s own members, who is a landlord himself, Johnathan “negative-gearing” Davis, openly encouraged investors to leave the market. He made a statement in here saying that, if you are a landlord and you do not like this bill, you should sell up, get out, and invest your money somewhere else.
The government’s own YourSay survey into this bill came back with a very clear answer that a substantial percentage of landlords would sell their properties as a consequence of these changes. When they leave in droves, there can be no surprise. You know exactly how the market will respond because you asked them, and they told you.
When we are sitting at an even higher level of rental unaffordability than today, when the homelessness numbers surge, when life gets even tougher for renters than it is
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video