Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Services, Territories and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Social Services Legislation Amendment (Housing Affordability) Bill 2017 is about housing affordability and particular arrangements for social and affordable housing in Australia, a matter which is of keen interest to thousands of Australians who can't afford a house to rent, let alone one to buy, a matter in which the coalition government has failed spectacularly. Former Treasurer Joe Hockey devised a strategy which was built around having rich parents, and it seems that policy in this area for the government has not advanced since that fateful statement. Labor will refer this bill to the Senate and make a final decision once the report has been issued.

There is of course the very good chance that the bill does not get finalised before the termination of this parliament, because the government has effectively gone on strike. Upon the conclusion of sittings for this year there is a meagre 11 sitting days between January and August next year. Frankly, you would struggle to find a parliament in the developed world which was so committed to not sitting. Clearly, the government have given up on governing. They can't trust their colleagues—clearly a motivation for not getting them together—they can't work with the crossbenchers and they can't agree on policies to tackle the big issues and the big challenges. Quite frankly, the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government has run out of an agenda and run out of policies. They are just so totally focused on themselves and their own dysfunction that they've given up on Australia and they've given up governing for all Australians.

Before the Wentworth by-election, the Prime Minister said that to lose one Liberal MP would be to create economic instability and uncertainty for Australia. Well, the Liberals' contribution to the government has been to lose two Liberal MPs in one short month. We need an election. Quite simply, we need an election so that we can put our positive plans, our alternative plans for the country, before the Australian people; give the government parties the opportunity to sort themselves out in the shade; and enable those who can govern this country get on with dealing with the big challenges.

The Liberals can't be trusted to put the best interests of low-income Australians first. At the 2016 election, Labor pledged to halve homelessness by 2025 by immediately commencing work with the states and territories on a national plan to address this national issue. We are still committed to this pledge. A particular focus for national reform must be supporting women and children escaping family violence. Increasing family violence is forcing women and children out of their homes and into homelessness. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data shows that each year about 100,000 women and children are seeking support for housing as a result of them attempting to escape family violence. Domestic and family violence is now the main reason why women and children have to leave their homes. Labor has already begun announcing policies to tackle homelessness. They include providing $88 million for a new safe-housing fund to increase transitional housing options for women and children escaping domestic and family violence, young people exiting out-of-home care and older women on low incomes who are at risk of homelessness. I will say something more about that in a moment, as it relates to my electorate. We're also committed to establishing a bond aggregator, to increase investment in affordable housing. We want to improve the National Housing Affordability Agreement by re-establishing the National Housing Supply Council and appointing a dedicated minister for housing.

What we see in the bill before the House today is just some tinkering around the edges of the schemes that were put in place by the last federal Labor government—no new ideas; no initiative. In complete contrast, the Labor government has fresh ideas, new ideas, on how to tackle the concerns around housing affordability and, in particular, homelessness. Our improving the National Housing Affordability Agreement will re-establish a National Housing Supply Council, and we will appoint a dedicated minister for housing—something that this country sorely needs. This builds on other important measures that we've announced to address housing affordability, including reforms to negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions.

They are controversial. The government is doing its level best to whip up fear and to provide misinformation about these important reforms, but we know that they are in the national interest, and by putting them forward well ahead of a national election we are ensuring that the Australian people know exactly what they will be voting on. We are doing this to ensure that we have structural reform within the taxation system, to bring the cost of housing down for those people who are currently locked out of the housing market. At the 2011 census, over 105,000 Australians were homeless. Tragically, more than 17,000 of these were children. No state, territory, city or country town is immune from homelessness, and every government has a role to play to reduce homelessness.

Our reforms to negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions will limit future negative gearing concessions to new housing and reduce the capital gains tax discount for those houses from 50 per cent to 25 per cent. Important to note is that this is for houses purchased after the implementation of this policy. These changes will moderate the growth of housing prices and redirect the generous tax concessions to where they are most needed—investment in new housing stock. We'll also prevent direct borrowing by superannuation funds, particularly with the growth in self-managed superannuation funds in this sector, by restoring the prohibition on direct borrowing by superannuation funds on a prospective basis, as recommended by the financial systems inquiry in 2014, to prevent the unnecessary build-up of risk in Australia's superannuation systems but also—and just as importantly—to take some of that heat out of the housing market.

We are going to increase the Financial Investment Review Board fees and penalties. Labor will double the fees and penalties on foreign investment rules to help first home buyers and put them on a more level playing field with investors. We're also going to look at the vacant property tax. Labor will establish a COAG process to coordinate and facilitate a more efficient and uniform vacant property tax across all of Australia's major cities. We'll also put in place a homelessness target. Labor will have a homelessness target for 2025 and develop a national homelessness strategy through COAG, in cooperation with the states and territories, to address this national scourge. A wealthy nation like ours should not have over 107,000 people, many of them children, homeless every night of the week.

I would like to say something about the circumstances affecting housing, homelessness and rental affordability, which this bill goes directly to, in my own electorate of Whitlam. We are, in Whitlam, sitting in the middle of one of the greatest urban growth areas in New South Wales outside of the Sydney Basin. More houses are being built in my electorate—in the West Dapto areas and in the Calderwood Valley areas—than in any other place throughout New South Wales. Over 19,500 new homes are being built in the West Dapto area. In the Calderwood Valley area over 5,000 new homes are being built. Over 56,000 people, the equivalent of a new city, will be housed in the West Dapto area, and 12,500 people will be housed in the Calderwood Valley area. This is a phenomenal achievement. But, tragically, there is not a plan in place for affordable and social housing in these areas. I want to repeat those numbers—over 19,000 new homes in the West Dapto area and over 5,000 new homes in the Calderwood Valley area and no plan for affordable or social housing.

This is an indictment on all levels of government. We already have a housing affordability problem in the Illawarra. Anglicare's rental affordability snapshot analysed over 1,050 properties that were available in the Illawarra, Shoalhaven and Southern Highlands on the weekend of 24-25 March 2018. Of those 1,050 properties that were advertised, only 16 of them were affordable and appropriate for households on government and income support payments. Of those 16 suitable properties, only five suitable rental properties were in or close to the CBD of Wollongong. The report also found that no rental properties in the Illawarra were affordable and appropriate for single people on Newstart or youth allowance—not one property. Not one of the 1,000 properties that were available for rent were affordable or appropriate for a single young person on a Newstart allowance and only five of the 1,000 were suitable for a person on income support. According to the Property Council annual report, the Illawarra is seeing an increase in demand for affordable housing and a decrease in affordability. The annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey ranked Wollongong as the 20th least affordable housing market of the 406 markets studied in 2016.

We have a crisis, and nobody's doing anything about it. This is an indictment on all three tiers of government. Nearly 20,000 homes are planned to be built throughout the Illawarra, but there is no plan for social housing and no plan for affordable housing, and yet we are ranked 20th on the affordable housing index over 400 regions throughout Australia. People often look at regional Australia as an alternative to living in the capital cities and say: 'That is affordable. We might be able to move to a place like Wollongong. We might be able to move to regional Australia and, if we're lucky enough to have a job, we might be able to afford to buy a house and live there.' That is not the case.

What makes all of this all the more galling is that one of the last acts of the Gillard Labor government was to provide over $13 million to the Wollongong City Council to provide affordable housing arrangements in the West Dapto area. A part of that money was spent on infrastructure—I applaud the Wollongong council for building that infrastructure—and road infrastructure to open up some rural land to housing development. But in excess of $9.5 million has not been spent in the five years since then, at the same time as housing affordability is going down, homelessness is going up and the dream of renting a house, let alone buying a house, is now increasingly out of the reach of people who are desperately in need of housing.

I am calling on the Wollongong City Council to meet immediately with me, the community and social housing providers throughout the Illawarra to agree a plan for the utilisation and the release of those funds. There should be no obstacle to doing this. What is quite clear through this bill before the House and the absence of other proposals to deal with affordable housing and social housing is the government is so wracked by division, so without an idea, so clueless on how to deal with the big issues facing our country that it has not got a plan. But that is no excuse for the local representatives not getting their act together to spend the money that has already been allocated.

Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Cyber Security and Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Whitlam on his speech and for underscoring those absolutely shocking figures about the nature of homelessness in this country, particularly for children. Equally shocking is the fact that three out of five people who seek help for homelessness are women. Homelessness for women looks like couch surfing. It looks like cycling through shelters, it looks like staying in cheap motels and it looks like living in poverty in private rental. It looks like moving from the homes of relatives to the homes of relatives to the homes of friends, often with children in tow. Homelessness for older women—those over the age of 55—is becoming an increasing problem and is one of our most rapidly growing issues.

Women are more likely to be at risk of homelessness because of inherent financial disadvantage and inequity. For many of these women, homelessness is a case of their income not being sufficient to pay rent. I have so many conversations with women around Canberra who are terrified about their future and who are terrified about their retirement: they're on modest incomes; invariably, they're divorced; they've got very little in the way of super; and they're in the private rental market. They are facing a very bleak retirement future. They know that they are facing a bleak retirement future because of the fact that they are potentially going into a private rental market on the pension. I have so many women coming to me and talking about this issue, and they are invariably in tears.

These women are more than likely to be in casual and low-paid employment. They would have lower superannuation and savings due to time out of the workforce caring for children or other family members. Some will even have been subject to family violence, a significant compounding effect and major driver of women's homelessness. Elements of this bill will entrench poverty for women who may be recipients of income support and who are at risk of, or who are, experiencing homelessness.

At the moment, some social housing tenants are also income support recipients. They can choose to have a portion of their fortnightly payments withheld and paid directly to a housing provider to cover rent and some bills, like utilities. This is the Rent Deduction Scheme, where participation is voluntary, used by 86 per cent of public and social housing tenants. The Automatic Rent Deduction Scheme proposed in this bill will replace the existing voluntary Rent Deduction Scheme and will apply to everyone, not just to those people who are in arrears and at risk of homelessness. It includes pensioners, it includes people on the disability support pension and it includes those on carer payments. It will capture people who have paid their rent responsibly for years and decades.

In its current form, the Compulsory Rent Deduction Scheme risks tenants being forced into serious financial hardship by not having a choice about where discretionary amounts of their Centrelink payment may be directed. Housing stress occurs where more than 30 per cent of a person's net income is spent on housing. It's possible that without amendments to include a capped amount, the Automatic Rent Deduction Scheme outlined in this bill could apply a higher percentage than 30 per cent to people who are already doing it tough—people who are already experiencing disadvantage. Without a limit on the amount of deductions there is the potential for people to be left with nothing to live on—absolutely nothing to live on.

Key organisations in Australia's welfare sector are opposed to this current version of the bill. They argue that most income recipients are quite capable of managing their limited finances without outside help and intervention. The one-size-fits-all approach outlined in the bill could have negative consequences for people, including undermining their responsibility for managing their finances and their ability to do so. And they argue the fact that the Automatic Rent Deduction Scheme is punitive and likely to do more damage than good.

In their submissions to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee's consideration of the bill, a majority of welfare organisations argued that the proposed Automatic Rent Deduction Scheme is unnecessary and unjustified when the national rent collection rates for social housing and the low number of evictions due to rental arrears are taken into account. Over the five years leading to the committee's review of the bill from 2011-2012 to 2015-2016, the national rent collection rates averaged 99.4 per cent for public housing, 99.2 per cent for community housing and 99.2 per cent for state owned and managed Indigenous housing. Fewer than three in every 1,000 social housing tenants are evicted in any one year.

With rent collection rates averaging these kinds of returns, it looks like the Automatic Rent Deduction Scheme is a solution looking for a problem. The problem the government appears to address is the social housing system's bottom line. According to the government, the solution is having certainty of rental income that can then be reinvested in social housing stock. But there's a hitch to this plan: there is no guarantee that state and territory governments would choose to invest the increased rental revenue in social housing rather than allocating it towards some other purpose. If the government were serious about addressing homelessness, it would take action to improve mental health services, provide more assistance for women leaving situations of domestic violence and ensure that vulnerable Australians had affordable housing options. Labor takes a holistic approach to the issue of homelessness, ensuring all causes of homelessness and housing insecurity are addressed, not just the rental arrears of a small number of social housing tenants. We're talking about average national rent collection rates of 99.4 per cent for public housing, 99.2 per cent for community housing and 99.2 per cent for state owned and managed Indigenous housing.

In 2008, the Labor government consulted widely on the issue of homelessness to identify ways to address and reduce homelessness in the longer term. After an extensive consultation process, the Labor government developed a new, whole-of-government approach that would demonstrate national leadership; focus strongly on prevention and early intervention; provide support for homeless Australians, leading to increased social and economic participation; encourage closer collaboration between services used by people vulnerable to homelessness; increase access to safe, affordable housing linked to appropriate support services; and, recognising the complexity of homelessness, address the needs of different groups within the homeless population, including families with children, young people, Indigenous people, older adults, and women and children leaving domestic or family violence. Labor's white paper, The road home: a national approach to reducing homelessness, set out Labor's vision at the time: an ambitious target to halve homelessness by 2020 and offer supported accommodation to all rough sleepers who needed it. Interim targets were set for 2013 to ensure the government stayed on track. But, since the coalition has been in government, all movement to reduce homelessness has absolutely stalled. On any given night in Australia, one in 200 people are homeless. Homelessness in Australia increased by 14 per cent from 2011 to 2016, outpacing population growth and outstripping housing supply. In the same period, rough sleeping increased by 20 per cent, the number of people living in overcrowded accommodation increased by 23 per cent, demand for homelessness services increased by 22 per cent and there was a 28 per cent increase in the number of Australians aged 55 and over who experience homelessness.

Despite having one of Australia's most affluent populations and being the seat of federal government, the ACT is not immune to housing shortages and homelessness. In 2016, the ACT Council of Social Service produced a book that highlighted the issues of housing affordability and homelessness in our city. It included the stories of 12 Canberrans who have experienced housing stress or homelessness. There's Gary's story. He went from a happy home on a property to sleeping in cars around the lake following a relationship breakdown. He said:

I don't think anyone wants to be living or sleeping on a concrete floor. It's hard getting housing in Canberra. Because there are many public servants and university students there is a lot of competition. All of the small houses are taken up by students. None of it is affordable to someone like me that only gets $500 a fortnight on Newstart.

And we heard about those challenges in the speech by the member for Whitlam.

There's also Trish's experience. After escaping family violence, she was told not to bother with real estate agents, and she now lives in a house without heating or room for her son to play. She said:

If I could speak to a politician I'd say "wake up, you probably have never experienced problems with housing but a lot of us have and it's just getting worse. Something needs to get started".

The issue of older women in our community facing housing stress and homelessness is really brought home by Penny, whose experiences have led her to advocate and fight for older women in public housing. This, as I said, is a significant issue. Every time I speak about family violence, about domestic violence, about the issue of homelessness, about the inequity that women face in Australia today, I always have older women come up to me at the end of the speech, as I mentioned before, in tears. They say to me: 'You are talking about me when you talk about homelessness. That is me staring down that bleak retirement future. I've got very little super. I'm in the private rental market. I'm between 55 and 65 and I'm still working, but I'm on a modest income. I'm divorced and I brought up the kids on my own, and here I am facing a very bleak future on the pension.' They are terrified. They are terrified about their future prospects. This is really brought home by these words of Penny:

A tragedy of commons has led me to where I am now. No secure, affordable, appropriate place to call home, now or in the foreseeable future. Housing as far as I'm concerned is a basic human right. As a person with a disability I am unable to obtain full-time employment. Part-time employment is possible, however this requires willingness on the part of employers to employ me. Therefore I rely on part-pensions to financially survive. In combination with an inequitable financial settlement in my mid 40s I am now relegated to one of the growing number of OWLS (Older Women Lost in Housing).

The housing situation here is at crisis point. I couldn't afford private rent, and real estate agents are unwilling to rent to someone on a pension. High rents and short-term tenancies prohibit my access to private rentals.

The lack of public housing is an impediment to my right to secure, affordable, appropriate housing. So I have rented rooms and moved from a friend's place to where I am now. At one point I had nowhere to go. It was overwhelming and embarrassing for me. I didn't have the financial ability to pay private rent in combination with the lack of places available. I had applied for affordable housing but didn't earn enough to be eligible.

I was shocked to realise that I was actually homeless. I was almost dazed thinking, how did I get to this point?

I now rent a room at an acquaintance's rented house. The house is not suitable for the nature of my disability. It is a tenuous and precarious living arrangement.

I don't think of the future—without secure housing, that is a luxury. The uncertainty of my housing situation is overwhelming, so I don't think about it.

I have established OWLs as an advocacy effort to raise awareness of the extent and the issues that contribute to older women being lost in housing. My story is not unique—

and I know that, Penny—

I have spoken to many women who are in a similar circumstance regarding housing.

These women are hidden and underrepresented. It is my hope that government, community, businesses and organisations collaborate in finding housing options that are secure, affordable and appropriate for OWLs.

Home is the key to a safe place. From where we can as individuals continue to build and strengthen Australian communities with our skills, experience, knowledge and connections.

These experiences of people in my community are tragic and they fill me with absolute anger. The failure of this government to treat housing and homelessness with the importance it deserves has only served to widen intergenerational inequality and disadvantage. This government doesn't have a housing minister. It doesn't have a housing strategy. The member for Sydney was the housing minister and released the national strategy to reduce homelessness—our white paper—in 2008 and showed her commitment, Labor's commitment, to the strategy when Labor was last in government. Our commitment to addressing housing affordability and homelessness has not wavered.

Just last week, Labor committed to a number of recommendations from the Community Housing Industry Association's National Plan for Affordable Housing, including the appointment of a federal housing minister and development of a long-term housing strategy if we were elected. It's clear that only Labor will address the housing and homelessness crisis, created by this government's policy vacuum and inaction, to ensure all Australians have access to stable and long-term housing.

Before I finish, I just want to welcome Ella Ezergailis, who is a year 6 student at Gowrie Primary School. She is here for the Girls Take Over Parliament program. She is on her SRC. She is deputy house captain. She is a very active girl guider. She is looking forward to going to Carolyn Chisholm School next year. I hope that, as a future leader, should she get to this place, that she is not discussing this tragic issue of homelessness in years to come.

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to sum up this debate. The Social Services Legislation Amendment (Housing Affordability) Bill 2017 introduces the framework for the Automatic Rent Deduction Scheme, or ARDS, which enables rent and utilities to be deducted from income support payments and family tax benefit for occupants living in social housing. The bill also makes amendments to the National Rental Affordability Scheme Act 2008, to streamline and simplify the administration of the National Rental Affordability Scheme, known as NRAS, until it ceases operation in 2026-27.

This bill introduces ARDS, a scheme to enable the automatic deduction of rent and utilities from public and community housing tenants' social security or family tax benefit payments. The primary objective of ARDS is to reduce the risk of homelessness for social housing tenants, particularly those in serious rental arrears who could face eviction or housing abandonment. It will support existing tenancy management processes in states and territories.

Households living in social housing with severe rental arrears, including families with children, can face eviction. Social housing is generally the most affordable housing option available for these families. If they are evicted, they can end up in specialist homelessness services, staying with family or friends or sleeping rough. This is a terrible circumstance for the individuals and families involved and can lead to long-term homelessness. It also contributes to additional costs for governments and puts extra pressure on community service providers. States and territories estimate that, nationally, their liability for the social housing system from unpaid social housing and related administrative costs exceeds $30 million each year.

This bill takes a significant step to ensure stable rental income streams for social housing providers. This will lead to a more efficient social housing system. ARDS will also address the nonpayment of rent, which can lead to evictions and homelessness among Australia's social housing tenants, by providing a means to pay their rent regularly. ARDS builds on the current voluntary rent deduction scheme by ensuring that social housing providers receive rent from tenants and other household members on time, in particular from those who consistently fail to pay. ARDS will work alongside other available supports to ensure that tenants and other household members continue to be housed safely and affordably while they get the help they need to sustain their tenancies.

The government committed to implement a compulsory rent deduction scheme for social housing welfare recipients in the 2016-17 budget, following a request from state and territory governments. ARDS was scheduled to be available from the first half of 2018, pending passage of the bill that was introduced in the House of Representatives on 14 September 2017, by the former minister, now the Attorney-General. On 19 October 2017, the Senate referred the bill to the Community Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry and report. The committee made a number of recommendations, which the government has considered in consultation with participating states and territories. The government has amended the bill to take account of the issues raised by the committee. ARDS will begin on 1 January 2019, if legislation passes the parliament.

The bill provides additional protection for tenants. As a precondition for participation for the scheme, the minister responsible for housing in the relevant state or territory must write to the Commonwealth minister for families and social services and set out the social housing policies of the state or territory. This will include information on how their policies apply limits to the amount that tenants can be charged and how tenants are protected from financial hardship. These letters may be published to ensure transparency.

ARDS deductions are limited to amounts for rent and household utilities only. Further, any arrears incurred due to suspension of an income support payment cannot be deducted from a single payment under ARDS when the payment recommences. Social housing tenants who are on income management, or the cashless debit card, will only have deductions for ARDS made from the income managed or restricted portion of their payments. These features reduce the likelihood of placing tenants in financial hardship.

The National Rental Affordability Scheme is established by the National Rental Affordability Scheme Regulations 2008. In 2016, the Australian National Audit Office reported that the NRAS legislative framework is complex and unclear. The report noted that the 'regulations could be reviewed with the aim of simplifying and clarifying aspects of their operation'. NRAS stakeholders are of the same view. In December 2016, the Department of Social Services consulted with NRAS stakeholders to identify ways to improve the administration of NRAS and reduce the regulatory burden on approved participants. Over 30 submissions were received, with suggestions on how the regulations could be streamlined to support the efficient and effective administration of NRAS going forward. In its submission to the NRAS consultation paper in December 2016, the Commonwealth Ombudsman noted the need to improve transparency for investors in NRAS. The Ombudsman's submission also made recommendations on measures to strengthen the integrity and compliance of NRAS.

In January 2017, the Department of Social Services commenced a review of NRAS to address the concerns raised by the ANAO, the Ombudsman and NRAS stakeholders. On 15 July 2017, minor regulatory amendments came into effect to address areas of NRAS that imposed disproportionate penalties for noncompliance which led to outcomes that were inconsistent with the objects of NRAS. Further regulatory amendments were made on 18 November 2017 and 21 December 2017 to permit NRAS investors to request the transfer of an allocation in certain circumstances and to provide other protections to investors. The amendments introduced in this bill clarify ambiguous provisions in the NRAS Act relating to the power to make regulations and lay the foundation to strengthen and simplify the further operation and administration of NRAS.

The NRAS Act requires the NRAS regulations to prescribe that the rent charge for an approved rental dwelling must be at least 20 per cent less than the market rent 'at all times during the year'. The term 'at all times during the year' has been subject to conflicting interpretations. The first amendment supports the correct interpretation of this provision, which is that each time rent is charged it is to be at least 20 per cent less than the market rent. Some people interpreted it to mean the total rent charged across the year rather than each time rent is charged.

The NRAS Act requires the NRAS regulations to prescribe maximum vacancy periods for approved rental dwellings. The prescriptive nature of the current vacancy provisions has been amended to allow greater flexibility for the NRAS regulations to prescribe permitted vacancy periods. This flexibility will assist the future administration of NRAS should changes be required on how the maximum vacancy periods are to operate.

Two new provisions will be added to the NRAS Act to provide express legislative authority for the NRAS regulations to vary conditions of allocation and put it beyond doubt that conditions may be varied or imposed after an allocation has been made. These provisions will reduce the risk to the Commonwealth when varying or imposing new conditions on allocations.

The final amendment provides express legislative authority to transfer an allocation from one approved rental dwelling to another. The ability to substitute dwellings is crucial to achieving the object of NRAS, to increase the supply of affordable rental dwellings. If an investor decides to leave NRAS, the ability to substitute a like-for-like dwelling ensures the level of NRAS housing stock is maintained.

The government is also making amendments to schedule 3 of the bill. The amendments put beyond doubt that NRAS can include protections for investors, including by requiring approved participants to pass on state and territory incentives to investors in certain circumstances. The amendments also confirm that NRAS can provide protections for NRAS investors and allow for the adjustment of incentives where an allocation has been transferred for cause at an investor's request.

NRAS relies on a number of the Commonwealth's legislative powers, and the amendments set out in these powers give the NRAS Act separate operation within the scope of each of these powers. The evidence given to the Senate inquiry suggested that there may be circumstances where, through inadvertence or oversight, a particular charge for rent may exceed the maximum rent that can be charged, which is 80 per cent of the market rent. The government's amendments permit NRAS to include a power for the Secretary of the Department of Social Services to grant an approved participant dispensation from an inadvertent breach of the 80 per cent rule in certain circumstances where the tenant has been fully compensated for the mistake.

While most approved participants in NRAS behave appropriately towards investors, a small number of approved participants do not do the right thing, and make life difficult for investors by not passing on incentives promptly and engaging in other undesirable conduct. The government's amendments will permit the Secretary of the Department of Social Services to accept an enforceable undertaking from an approved participant. Enforceable undertakings are a useful compliance tool currently used by a number of Australian government agencies. The inclusion of this tool as part of the NRAS Act will assist the Department of Social Services to take appropriate action to protect investors where necessary.

The government is committed to putting in place measures to reduce the risk of homelessness for social housing tenants and to reduce rental costs for low- and moderate-income households. This bill will assist people living in social housing to maintain their tenancies and lays the foundation for improving the NRAS legislative framework to support the efficient administration of the NRAS until it ceases operation in 2026. I commend the bill to the House.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The original question was that this bill be now read a second time. To this, the honourable member for Barton has moved as an amendment that all words after 'That' be omitted with a view to substituting other words. The immediate question is that the amendment be agreed to.

Question negatived.

Original question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation announced.