Page 794 - Week 03 - Thursday, 2 April 2020
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the offender’s work obligations is eight hours per week. This provision will apply only during the COVID-19 emergency declaration.
The amendment to the Official Visitor Act ensures that new annual reporting requirements for the official visitors board align with the commencement of the next full reporting year.
Given the amount of legislation affected by the bill, I will not comment on all of it today, but one consequence of the speed of the introduction and passage of this bill is that consultation with civil society and a range of stakeholders has been limited. The presence of the various sunset clauses in the legislation is especially important in that context. However, I certainly stand ready to hear feedback from stakeholders about the operation of the clauses I have outlined, as well as the impacts of the bill in general.
Both as a Greens member and a minister in this government, I am very open to hearing about any consequences—both intended and unintended—of this bill and believe it is important that I and the government as a whole are prepared to consider further amendments in future sittings if and as required. The Greens will be listening to the community and will be keeping a close eye on how these processes play out over the coming months, mindful that it will likely be a rapidly evolving landscape as the year progresses.
MR PARTON (Brindabella) (3.48): This is an extraordinary time. We have all said that and I do not know that I want to harp on that much more. As we were preparing for this emergency bill, I was expecting an extremely complex suite of changes for residential tenancies to come before us today. I understand that things are changing extremely rapidly, and I understand that at the time this bill was being formulated national cabinet had not concluded discussions in this space, and to some extent they will be ongoing for some time. We were waiting for national clarity and a way to move forward. In the residential tenancy space, despite the announcement earlier from the Chief Minister, in this chamber, we find ourselves debating the granting to the minister during this emergency extraordinary powers which could be enacted at any time during the emergency.
As Mr Coe has made clear, we will not be opposing this; these are extraordinary times. But I urge the minister, through whatever mechanism is available now and whatever mechanism may appear during this debate, to be completely transparent when applying these powers and, where possible, to apply them only after the widest possible consultation. I urge that that consultation should include the opposition.
The other thing that needs to be said at this time is that the Real Estate Institute and a bunch of property owners are crying out for a clearly articulated and definitive position on residential tenancies. I know we got part that way today through the Chief Minister. I know the Chief Minister and Mr Ramsay are aware that some major fires are burning in this space right now, and those fires include everyone involved in the space, including renters who are not sure how they are going to keep a roof over their heads.
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