Page 795 - Week 03 - Thursday, 2 April 2020
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A large number of renters have found themselves out of work through no fault of their own, and these people have to be protected. Many of them are being protected to some extent by the doubling of the Newstart allowance for job seekers, but also by the extremely generous JobKeeper package announced by the Morrison government.
It is unfortunate that we see a growing narrative from some groups around Australia calling for a rent strike. These people are viewing the current crisis as a means of bringing forth their agenda. To some extent they have been aided by announcements from the Prime Minister—he announced six days ago that there would be no evictions in Australia for six months. That has been interpreted by some in a way that was not meant by the Prime Minister. I know agents in this town have been contacted by tenants informing the agent that they are no longer paying rent. It is easy for us to all see that that has potentially disastrous consequences. Again, I understand that we had the announcement of a framework from the Chief Minister earlier today, but I urge the Chief Minister and the housing minister to be very, very clear in their public advice in this residential tenancy space.
The banking sector has been much clearer in its indications of assistance to those who are paying commercial lease mortgages and less clear on potential concessions given to residential rental mortgages. I know the Chief Minister alluded to some of those concessions that have been given in the residential space by the banking sector, but the banking sector is made up of a large number of banks and they are not all on the same page at this stage of the game.
Those who wish to divide us along class lines and draw a line in the sand with a widespread rental strike, I think, need to have a good look at themselves. I understand that discussions are ongoing at a national level, but I put it on the record that it is extremely important for this government to provide extreme clarity and certainty in the residential tenancy space. I trust the Chief Minister is working hard to do that in coming hours, if not coming days.
In regard to the additional powers given to the minister today through this legislation, although those powers expire either at the end of the health emergency or at a time to be decided within three months of the end of the emergency, it is not clear when those new regulations will expire and what effect they will have. I look forward to Mr Coe’s amendment in this space.
In regard to the gaming machine and club measures, I applaud Mr Ramsay and the government for the emergency provisions they have enacted very quickly in the club space. Clubs have been a contested space in this chamber for a number of years, and it is refreshing to see all of us arrive at a very similar position in these crisis times. That position is underpinned by the acknowledgement that clubs are extremely important to our community and they will be desperately important to Canberra’s healing and recovery process once we get to the other side.
Clubs, for many people, are the primary source of social interaction and the chasm left by their closure highlights how much they are genuinely a part of Canberra’s social fabric. We must do whatever we can to make sure that as many of our clubs as
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