Page 243 - Week 01 - Thursday, 13 February 2020
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common-sense and risk-informed pathway to better outcomes. That is better for landlords and tenants.
Together these minor amendments to the act reflect an ambition to protect the legitimate interest of landlords and enhance the quality of life for tenants, to make sure that our residential tenancy system works for the most vulnerable people in our community. They may not be necessary but they are worth passing—and worth passing now!
Other Australian jurisdictions are also progressing reforms of their residential tenancy laws. Our neighbours are innovating and changing the way that their laws work. Without change, the ACT risks being left behind. Landlords and tenants, together in the ACT, deserve legislation that is world class, not something that we should just leave until the Canberra Liberals decide that we should not act on it anyway.
We achieve this by walking a balanced, evidence-led path, guided by community behaviours, values and expectations. We achieve this by engaging with the wider community on their current experiences, by learning from the past decisions of the ACAT and by consulting with experts across the sector about future directions for tenancy law.
This bill has a very clear vision of what it means to strike the right balance. It strikes the right balance, not by trying to split the difference on points of contention but by engaging seriously and rationally with concerns, with views and with beliefs of all stakeholders. It strikes the balance by presenting evidence-based proposals that are tailored to our rental market. Most importantly, this bill strikes the balance that is needed to create the sort of environment in which landlords want to invest and in which tenants want to live.
Residential tenancy law is one of the foundation stones of the community. It bridges the gap between really regulating the marketplace of accommodation and nurturing a thriving society. In his play The Rocks TS Eliot challenged us to find the meaning of our cities:
Do we dwell together just to make money from each other, or is this a community?
If residential tenancy laws are fair, efficient and balanced Canberra will not only be a market for landlords; it will also be an attractive market in which tenants can build communities. Each of the amendments in this bill reflects that clear vision.
Consistent with the vision, the bill proposes to bring to the ACT what other jurisdictions generally already enjoy. Most of the amendments proposed bring the ACT into line with standards set in other states and territories. Other amendments use the experiences of our counterparts in other jurisdictions to build options suitable for and tailored to Canberra’s housing market. The experience in other jurisdictions indicates that these proposals do not cause landlords to exit the market. Instead, the proposals help tenants around Australia build homes within their communities.
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