Residential Tenancies (Domestic Violence Protections) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 13 October 2015.)

Mr BELL (Mount Gambier) (15:44): I rise to indicate that I will be the lead speaker for the Liberal Party on the Residential Tenancies (Domestic Violence Protections) Amendment Bill. The Liberal Party is very supportive of this bill. The government has introduced this bill because it believes that there is some room for improvement in the area of residential tenancies and the protection of victims of domestic violence. The proposed changes are designed to recognise domestic violence in our tenancy legislation and provide further protection for victims. At present, a tenant may apply to SACAT (South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal) to terminate a residential tenancy based on hardship.

SACAT may consider any other circumstances that result in undue hardship of either the tenant or the landlord. However, co-tenants are jointly and separately liable, which means SACAT cannot terminate a residential tenancy which is in co-tenants' names, unless of course the co-tenant agrees or SACAT determines that the co-tenant has abandoned the residential tenancy. This of course gives enormous influence over a co-tenant, and in the case of domestic violence can see the victim liable for damage to the property by a perpetrator of that domestic violence. This often comes out of the bond or is compensation or both. This may also lead to the victim being listed on the residential tenancy database, commonly called the 'tenant blacklist' as a result of damage caused to the property by the perpetrator of domestic violence.

This bill recognises that domestic violence can be a cause for ending a residential tenancy in co-tenants' names. As a landlord myself, one of my concerns is that the interests and consideration of landlords are also taken into account. Damage to property, significant delays in rent, and ongoing uncertainty need to be addressed so as to not unreasonably impact a landlord who has entered into a tenancy agreement in good faith.

It is pleasing to note upon reading this bill that the landlord does have some protection in this area. On application of a landlord, where there is a risk that the tenant or persons permitted on the premises by the tenant may cause serious damage to property or persons, SACAT may make an order restraining that person from undertaking certain conduct. Landlords are allowed to inspect a property before a decision is made by a co-tenant to terminate a residential tenancy. It also allows for a continuation of the current agreement in either co-tenants' names.

The bill aims to address the serious and imminent difficulties facing a victim of domestic violence with the rights of a landlord without unduly disadvantaging either. It is important to note that the compensation for damage beyond the amount held as a bond can be claimed via an order of the Residential Tenancies Tribunal to be paid by the responsible co-tenant.

The Intervention Order (Protection of Abuse) Act 2009 provides some measures which preserve the intent of victims of abuse to be able to stay safely in their home and prevent the perpetrator from coming within close proximity of the victim, even if he or she is the owner or tenant of the dwelling. The intent is to provide as little disruption as practicable to the victim and any children who may be involved. As said by the Minister for the Status of Women, and I quote, because I could not write it any better myself:

The Bill aims to support victims of domestic violence in the tenancy sector to leave a hostile environment or remove the perpetrator from the environment, without incurring further unfair expenses caused by the perpetrator, and to minimise any further dealings with the person in relation to the tenancy in the future. Domestic violence is not limited to physical and sexual assault, it is violent, threatening or other behaviour that controls a member of the person’s family or causes the family member to be fearful. It is not always between partners, it can be perpetrated by grandchildren, cousins, brothers, sisters uncles, aunts, mums or dads. Domestic violence can include a wide range of behaviour between family members. It is proposed to adopt existing definitions under the [Intervention Order] Act, including, abuse, act of abuse, and domestic abuse in the Act. Domestic associate is a new term, however it reflects the relationships outlined in the [Intervention Order] Act for the purposes of domestic abuse, which includes a broad range of intimate, family and informal care relationships. It is also proposed to define a co-tenant for classification purposes.

Under the bill, a person may apply to SACAT to terminate a domestic tenancy under the following situations:

Where there is a court-imposed intervention order against a co-tenant or a person residing at that premises. This gives a level of protection to the landlord that people cannot just flippantly use this bill as a means of breaking co-tenancy agreements.

SACAT may terminate a residential tenancy and require a new tenancy to be entered into under the same terms and conditions with just one tenant but not be in co-tenancy.

SACAT cannot make an order effectively creating a new tenancy if it causes undue hardship. The landlord has the ability to indicate that it would be unreasonable for the tenancy to be put in a different co-tenancy or single tenancy. Therefore, the landlord is not bound to continue the tenancy in a single or new co-tenancy arrangement if they do not believe it is reasonable to do so, in effect, giving the landlord an out in regard to a tenancy agreement.

The bill extends these protections to rooming house residents and empowers SACAT to terminate the rooming house agreement, also.

Where SACAT requires a new tenancy to be entered into, the new tenant, or co-tenants, may be required to lodge a new bond at the request of the landlord.

Women and children have the right to feel safe and live without fear of violence, yet one in six Australian women has experienced violence from a current or former partner and 63 women have been killed so far this year due to domestic violence. For Indigenous women, the situation is even worse. They are 34 times more likely to be hospitalised as a result of family violence. More than half of women who experience violence have had children in their care when the violence has occurred. Women with a disability are more likely to experience violence. There is growing evidence to suggest 90 per cent of Australian women with an intellectual disability have been subjected to sexual abuse.

Domestic violence is a principal cause for homelessness for women and their children. Violence against women traumatises children. It impacts on their safety, development and long-term wellbeing. When women leave situations of violence, it can impact them financially, and this bill goes some way to ensuring that that does not occur.

Women living in rural areas are often further discriminated against due to the lack of available resources, limited number of shelters, education, employment opportunities and the lack of public transport. They can be living on isolated properties and may have limited connection to rural communities. Of course, distance means that response times are longer and telephone service may be poorer.

Commencing in 2003, White Ribbon Day is the world's largest male-led movement to end men's violence against women. It is our vision (I am a member) for all women to live in safety, free from all forms of men's violence. The White Ribbon campaign recognises the positive role that men play in preventing violence against women and encourages male leadership in prevention. It unites people to say no to violence against women.

I would like to acknowledge our White Ribbon ambassadors of Mount Gambier and these include: Trevor Twilley, Steve Perryman, Tony Pasin, Rob Foggo, Brenton Lewis, Scott Dickson, David Mezenic, Andrew Thomas, Tony Byfieldt, Paul Scicluna, Norm Elliott, Mark Thompson, Mario Persello and Ian von Stanke. The White Ribbon ambassadors of Mount Gambier will be holding a White Ribbon cocktail evening tonight, Thursday 19 November 2015, and I will be heading off very soon to attend that event. In finishing up, I would also like to acknowledge Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and the federal Coalition government in announcing a $100 million safety package to stop the violence.

Mr Pederick interjecting:

Mr BELL: It was the current Prime Minister. This package is to provide front-line support and services to keep women safe and provide educational resources to help change community attitudes to violence and abuse. I have just picked out a couple of things. The package includes:

$21 million for specific measures to help Indigenous women and communities;

$12 million to trial with states the use of innovative technology to keep women safe, such as GPS trackers for perpetrators, with funding to be matched by state and territories;

$5 million for safer technologies, including working with telecommunication companies to distribute safe phones to women, and with the eSafety Commissioner to develop a resource package about online safety for women, including for women from isolated communities;

$17 million to keep women safe in their homes by expanding successful initiatives like the Safe at Home program to install CCTV cameras and other safety equipment, and a grant to the Salvation Army to work with security experts to conduct risk assessments on victims' homes, help change their locks and scan for bugs;

$5 million to expand 1800RESPECT, the national telephone online counselling and information service, to ensure more women can get support; and

$2 million to increase funding for MensLine for tools and resources to support perpetrators not to reoffend.

As mentioned by the Minister for Education, who is in the house, in her second reading speech:

This bill aims to support the victims of domestic violence who are bound by a residential tenancy to leave a hostile environment or remove the perpetrator from that environment without incurring...unfair expenses caused by the perpetrator, and to minimise any further dealings with the person in relation to the tenancy in the future.

This bill also sends a clear message to perpetrators of domestic violence that the Liberal Party and the Labor Party are united in their disgust of domestic violence and will work in a bipartisan manner to address this topic head on.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (15:57): I rise too to support the Residential Tenancies (Domestic Violence Protections) Amendment Bill 2015. I think it is an apt time to have this bill on the table in this place when we have made contributions earlier today in regard to White Ribbon Day and the obvious impact of domestic violence on our women and children in society. What this bill is intended to do is provide further protections to victims of domestic violence in the tenancies sector to terminate a residential tenancy, as has already been indicated by the member for Mount Gambier, or a rooming house agreement where the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal is satisfied that domestic violence has occurred or there is an intervention order in force against the person residing at the premises.

At the moment, a tenant or landlord may apply to SACAT to terminate a residential tenancy based on hardship. However, SACAT's powers are limited in cases where the tenant is a co-tenant with a person being violent towards them. Co-tenants therefore are jointly and severally liable. What this means for SACAT is they cannot terminate a residential tenancy unless the other tenant joins the application, indicates no opposition to it, or SACAT is satisfied that the other tenant has abandoned the residential tenancy. SACAT is also unable to make an order that more than one tenant in a co-tenancy is liable for compensation to the landlord to the exclusion of other co-tenants. In situations where there is domestic violence, this generally results in the victim being required to pay for the damage caused to the property by the perpetrator, either out of the bond or as compensation or, in some cases, both.

Under this bill, it is proposed that a tenant will be able to apply to SACAT to terminate a residential tenancy based on domestic abuse in specified circumstances. Some of these circumstances will obviously involve a South Australia Police report, or a report from a domestic violence service provider.

SACAT will have power to make an order terminating the residential tenancy and substitute a new tenancy agreement. SACAT will also have power to make an order that one of the co-tenants must pay compensation to the landlord. The government says SACAT's powers in relation to the bond are designed to:

…provide a balance between the victim's interest in the bond, if any, and the landlord's right to compensation out of the bond.

The Landlords' Association has raised some questions about details of the bill. I note that there is a clause in the new bill which talks about restraining orders, where landlords will have some powers to protect their obvious interests in a tenancy arrangement.

We support the bill. As the member for Mount Gambier put so well, the scourge of domestic violence has spread too far and we must do all we can to protect victims and their rights. This goes no small way to assisting that process. Obviously, at times, with regard to where someone has been a victim of domestic violence, they may lose their direct income to the family in the immediate sense, and it may mean that a breadwinner has left and new arrangements are made.

There is a whole range of arrangements that someone may have to make in that situation regarding their home life decisions, whether it is to do with bringing up their children (if they have children), putting the children through school, paying the bills, or just putting food on the table. This bill will take some of those pressures off people caught up in an issue of tenancy and the payment of rent, bonds and other matters.

I fully support the bill and, as I said earlier, this will go part of the way to alleviating some of the pain that victims of domestic violence have to put up with. Let's hope—and I say it is hope—that this does not have to be enacted too many times into the future. I commend the bill.

Mr WINGARD (Mitchell) (16:02): I also rise today to support the Residential Tenancies (Domestic Violence Protections) Amendment Bill. This bill is intended to provide further protections to victims of domestic violence in the tenancy sector to terminate a residential tenancy or rooming house agreement where the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (SACAT) is satisfied domestic abuse has occurred, or there is an intervention order in force against a person residing at the premises.

Presently, a tenant or landlord may apply to SACAT to terminate a residential tenancy based on hardship; however, SACAT's powers are limited in cases where the tenant is a co-tenant with the person being violent towards them. Co-tenants are jointly liable. Thus, SACAT cannot terminate a residential tenancy unless the other tenant joins the application and indicates no opposition to it, or SACAT is satisfied that the other tenant has abandoned the residential tenancy.

In situations of domestic violence, this generally results in the victim being required to pay for damage caused to property by the perpetrator, either out of the bond or as compensation, or, in some cases, both. Under the bill, it is proposed that a tenant will be able to apply to SACAT to terminate a residential tenancy based on domestic abuse in specified circumstances (e.g., with a SAPOL report or a domestic violence service provider making the claims).

SACAT will have power to make an order terminating the residential tenancy and substitute a new tenancy agreement. SACAT will also have power to make an order that one of the co-tenants must pay compensation to the landlord. The government says that SACAT's powers in relation to the bond are designed to:

…provide a balance between the victim's interest in the bond, if any, and the landlord's right to compensation out of the bond.

So, we can see that there are a lot of positives to come out of this bill, hence we do support it. Of course, there is always concern for a landlord's rights as well, but the government has assured us that that will be looked after.

I did mention earlier when I spoke about the White Ribbon Foundation and as we talk about domestic violence that it was not directly in my life, and what I meant by that was that it is not in my immediate family. My dad was never physically violent to my mum and my step-dad was the same. The people who are intimately close to me are very loving and caring. I know that I have been very lucky and I know that it is very different for other people out there.

Domestic violence is clearly in our community and I have seen it firsthand since coming to this role in this place. I mentioned Kerryn Morris earlier as well when I talked about White Ribbon Day. Kerryn is a social worker at the Salvation Army, Marion, and together we have worked on a number of domestic violence cases—often some of the tougher ones that Kerryn has to work with because she does an amazing job dealing with people in this situation pretty much all day every day in her role with the Salvation Army.

There are some things that come across my desk when I am working with Kerryn and other people in the community where I think this bill can really help people in our community. For example, we see women who are sleeping at friend's houses, on the streets and in shelter accommodation while they are waiting for new accommodation as they try to fight their way through this system because they are trying to avoid an abusive partner and they are suffering from domestic violence.

They are often too scared to go home because of situations like those we are looking to change with this bill, and hopefully we can create a safer environment for them to operate in. Often women calling on the subject of domestic violence are very fearful of their abuser and fearful that their abuser will find them wherever they move; as such, they often move a lot and this can make it very difficult to locate them and continue assisting them.

Kerryn has spoken at times about helping people and going down the path with them (and we have done this together) and then the person we are trying to help goes missing because they are jumping from premises to premises. Again, hopefully, the changes in this bill will help make people suffering from domestic violence more comfortable and more able to be in a more stable environment as they need or as suits their situation to enable them to get this extra help that Kerryn provides through the Salvation Army as one example.

Equally, and I must note this point as well, women are not always the victims of domestic violence. In fact, I have had a case come through my office where a couple of men have been the victims of domestic violence suffering psychological and physical abuse from their female partner. There is an increasing stigma around men if they claim to be sufferers of domestic violence, and I think that extra support for these people in this area is very much warranted as well. Men can be victims in this as well, and this legislation, again, will help both men and women who are suffering from domestic violence.

We also know that the ongoing fear is very traumatic for people who are suffering from domestic violence. I mentioned before that it has not been directly related to me, but there are clearly lots of cases of domestic violence that people do try to hide. They do find it very traumatic and very hard to come forward. Again, hopefully, changes in this legislation will give people even more confidence to be able to come forward, and if they find they are in a domestic violence situation they will be able to make changes to their environment, to their life, that will put them in a far safer environment.

In closing, I hope this bill will help the fight against domestic violence. As we have pointed out, and as has been pointed out by the member for Mount Gambier before me, it is a scourge on society. Federally, our Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has made this very well known, and in this house I know that we all believe that domestic violence is a scourge on our society and that we would love to see it removed from society for good.

Hopefully, the alterations to this bill will enable women to feel safer in their home and men to feel safer in their home, especially if they are suffering from domestic violence. Hopefully, this bill will enable people to be able to move locations more easily when it is needed so that again they can feel safe and get on top of the domestic violence issues that are very much inflicting Australia at the moment. If this bill can go a little way towards helping people, anyone in this situation, I think it will be a positive. Enabling people to be able to get out of their situation more easily can only be a good thing.

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for the Public Sector) (16:09): I would like to thank members for their consideration of this bill as well as for their contributions and support. Domestic and family violence can occur in many different relationships, such as couples of all ages, whether dating, living together, married, separated or divorced; between men and women as well as between same-sex couples; between adults and children or adults and older parents; between extended family members like aunts, uncles and grandparents; or between people living together in a nonsexual relationship. It happens regardless of income, culture or religion. There is never any excuse for bullying or violence in a family. It is not okay in any community or any culture.

We know that domestic violence takes a number of forms, including physical violence, threats and intimidation, psychological, and emotional and social abuse as well as economic deprivation. The bill aims to support victims of domestic violence in the tenancy sector to leave a hostile environment or remove the perpetrator from the environment without incurring further unfair expenses caused by the perpetrator, and to minimise any further dealings with the perpetrator in relation to the tenancy in the future. Parliament must ensure that victims are supported to remain in their homes when it is safe to do so rather than the victim and any children being displaced from their familiar surroundings, social supports, school and employment.

The Weatherill government has made a strong commitment to addressing domestic violence in our community, and this bill builds on the existing initiatives seeking to protect victims of domestic violence. Although I am in this role in order to represent the Hon. Gail Gago in the other house, who has been a magnificent leader and continues to be an extraordinary leader on women's issues and domestic violence, I would like to add my personal note on how proud I am to be involved in something like this bill, not only because of the good result that will happen in the real world but also because within our little, odd world here we have had people on both sides speaking so passionately in favour of it. It makes my heart glad after what has been quite a difficult week following the events of the weekend. I urge members to support this bill.

Bill read a second time.

Third Reading

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Education and Child Development, Minister for the Public Sector) (16:12): I move:

That this bill be now read a third time.

Bill read a third time and passed.