State Government Backs Away From Rental Reform

Jun 7, 2023

Member for Terrigal, Adam Crouch has called out the Labor Government for failing in its first attempt at rental reform, backflipping on the secret rent bidding ban and abandoning the measure.

Mr Crouch said the broken promise will place more uncertainty and anxiety on renters and the property industry on the Central Coast.

“At a time when rental availability and affordability are a major issue facing so many on the Central Coast, it is disappointing to see the Labor Government failing to address the very problem they promised to solve.”

“The Central Coast deserves better than yet another backflip from the Labor Government.”

Opposition Leader Mark Speakman said it was clear that Labor hadn’t done the work in developing legislation to ban secret rent bidding.

“The Government rushed the process, did not properly consult stakeholders and experts, and ignored their warnings,” Mr Speakman said.

“It’s day 74 and the Labor broken promises are mounting. They’re backflipping on election promises. They promised to ban secret rental bidding and have now backflipped. They promised to roll over Active Kids and are now looking to cancel it. They promised that extra wage increases would cost nothing and be offset with productivity gains but it’s now going to cost $618 million per annum. They promised no privatisation but they’re now looking to privatise public land.”

Shadow Fair Trading Minister Tim James said the Government should have never attempted to introduce such under prepared policy.

“If Labor did the homework, and listened to the community and experts earlier, it wouldn’t be forced into a backflip on this poorly conceived idea that everyone had said would inflate rents,” Mr James said.

“The Government needs to explain why they ignored repeated warnings that this policy will create a rental auction that fuels rent increases, putting a home further out of reach for millions of NSW renters.”