Dr MARJORIE O'NEILL (Coogee) (11:47): My question is addressed to the Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading. Will the Minister update the House on how the Minns Labor Government's tenancy reforms are increasing protections for victim-survivors of domestic and family violence who need to leave unsafe homes?
Mr ANOULACK CHANTHIVONG (Macquarie Fields—Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading, Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Innovation, Science and Technology, Minister for Building, and Minister for Corrections) (11:47): I thank the member for Coogee for her question. I know her constituents will appreciate the member's advocacy for a fairer rental market. After all, 48 per cent of households in the seat of Coogee are renters. The Minns Labor Government has been working tirelessly to make renting fairer in New South Wales. Our State's 2.3 million renters have been shown time and again that the only government that will consistently improve the lives of renters is a Labor government. We have ended no-grounds evictions, made it easier to have pets in rentals, capped the number of rent increases to one per year, and we have a bill before Parliament that improves renters' rights to protect their personal information and privacy.
I am proud to inform the House that in the early hours of this morning the Government passed another comprehensive rental reform package that will provide crucial protections for victim-survivors of domestic and family violence. The Government's vision for a fairer rental market cannot be achieved if there is not fairness for the most vulnerable in the rental system. Domestic and family violence is a terrible blight on our community, encompassing physical, emotional, sexual and financial abuse. It is also the leading cause of homelessness for women and children in Australia. Victim-survivors are often forced to move jobs, leave their support networks and flee from their homes to escape their perpetrators. It is clear that more can be done to protect and support victim-survivors who rent.
In August this year I tabled a statutory review of the domestic violence provisions in the Residential Tenancies Act, including recommendations on how to strengthen personal and financial protections for victim‑survivors in the rental market. The bill that was passed early this morning enacts 20 legislative amendments recommended in the review. Under previous laws, victim-survivors were obligated to notify the people with whom they shared a lease that they were leaving—even if the perpetrator was one of those people. That dangerous and stressful obligation has been removed through our bill. Now a landlord or agent will be responsible for notifying co-tenants that a victim-survivor is ending their lease after they have safely left the property. The Government is also making it easier to leave abusive situations by clarifying and expanding the list of people who can declare that a renter is a victim of domestic abuse. That declaration is crucial because it allows a renter to end their lease immediately and without having to pay a break fee. [Extension of time]
The Government's reforms also empower victim-survivors with broader rights to change locks without their landlord's consent to better ensure their safety, slashing red tape where it actually matters. Landlords and agents now need to meet new requirements when publishing photos or videos that reveal personal belongings to reduce the risk of further harm to victim-survivors. The Government acknowledges that there are circumstances where victim-survivors feel unable to leave abusive relationships due to concerns about their financial stability. That is why the Government has placed financial independence front and centre of the reforms.
The new laws offer an easier pathway for victim-survivors to recover their share of the rental bond from co-tenants. They also provide improved protection against being held liable for property damage caused by domestic violence, which can keep people trapped in harm's way. The changes also crack down on tenancy database listings that unfairly prevent victim-survivors from finding new rentals by strengthening the existing ban on listing victim-survivors and introducing a simpler process to remove incorrect entries. No-one should be afraid to leave an abusive relationship because they are not appropriately protected by rental laws. It is not fair; nor is it right. That changes today. That is why the new laws to protect victim-survivors are the latest of the Minns Labor Government's reform to make renting fairer for the people of New South Wales.
