Tenants Queensland (TQ) congratulates our new Premier, David Crisafulli, for the election of the Liberal National Party at the state election on October 26. TQ looks forward to working with the LNP to achieve our joint housing goals.
TQ assists tens of thousands of renting households across the state every year to maintain safe and stable housing. We support renters to exercise their rights and act on their responsibilities and advocate their concerns to government and the community. We hope to meet with the new government soon to explain our important work and better understand their vision for renters so that we can help them deliver on it.
What do we know about the Crisafulli Government’s policies for renters?
In the publicly released documents there is limited information from the LNP directly addressing policies for renters. However, TQ wrote to all political parties in the lead up to the State Election, asking questions on specific topics. On the three topics we have campaigned for change on, we know the LNP have announced a solar for renters program (The Supercharged Solar for Renters plan), which supports our call for energy efficiency standards for rental properties. Currently however, they do not support limiting the amount that rents can rise, nor ending arbitrary eviction for renters at the end of their fixed term agreement.
TQ also asked if the LNP had any plans for changes to tenancy laws. The LNP responded with the following:
“The Labor state government recently introduced some reforms to tenancy laws to the Queensland Parliament. Changes to tenancy laws are a complex issue. The LNP carefully and respectfully reviewed the proposed laws and did not oppose the rental reform changes which have now passed through the Parliament. These laws now need to be monitored to ensure they do not have adverse impacts that reduce the supply of rental accommodation or put additional upward pressure on prices”.
Outside of the answers to our direct questions, most of the publicly available housing policy statements focus on supply and home ownership, some with ‘trickle down’ impacts for renters.
The LNP acknowledges the problem of rental affordability and see their strong focus on housing supply as the way to address it.
The LNP committed to a similar target put in place by the Labor government last year:
“….‘Securing our Housing Foundations’ plan….which will deliver one million more homes by 2044, including 53,500 social and community homes. Increasing housing supply will provide more options for renters in both the price point and types of properties available.”
The following is also from the LNP’s publicly available information on housing issues.
In the first month we should see confirmed goals and KPIS for Ministers and Heads of Departments.
By the end of this year, there is a commitment to allow recipients of the First Homeowner Grant to rent out a room without penalty, with which they expect to ease the pressure on renters. Additionally, the LNP will aim to unlock church and charity-owned land for the Community Housing Sector.
In the first 100 days, the LNP has committed to establishing a Cabinet Housing Ministerial Taskforce. The LNP will also begin to abolish stamp duty on new builds for first home buyers and will commence work to expand home ownership opportunities in Queensland’s Indigenous communities.
These are the starting points for our work with the new government. TQ looks forward to using our expertise to support the LNP’s housing agenda and exploring ways to work together to improve the situation for renters across Queensland and make renting fairer.