Retirement Villages (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill

Final Stages

The Legislative Council agreed to the bill with the amendments indicated by the following schedule, to which amendments the Legislative Council desires the concurrence of the House of Assembly:

No. 1. Clause 14, page 10, after line 40 [clause 14, inserted section 21(1)(b)]—After subparagraph (ii) insert:

(iii) any special levy in place and payable by residents of the retirement village, including the purpose of the special levy, the amount and frequency of payments and the proposed date of final payment; and

(iv) any major capital item expenditure project in place or planned for the next 2 years, including the cost of the project and how it will be funded; and

No. 2. New clause, page 22, after line 10—After clause 29 insert:

29A—Amendment of section 38—Residents' committees

Section 38(14)—after 'residents' committee' insert:

, or a sub-committee appointed by a residents' committee,

No. 3. Clause 38, page 31, after line 8—After subclause (3) insert:

(3a) Section 58—after subsection (2) insert:

(2a) In addition, the following persons are entitled to appear in proceedings before the Supreme Court under this section:

(a) a resident of the retirement village the subject of the application;

(b) any other any person who, in the opinion of the Court, has a sufficient interest in the proceedings.

(2b) Subject to subsection (2c), a person who proposes to apply for the termination of a retirement village scheme or part of a retirement village scheme under this section must, before making the application—

(a) give notice in writing of the proposed application and termination to each resident along with any prescribed information relating to the proposed termination; and

(b) allow a period of 60 days after giving the notice for residents to make representations to the person in response to the notice; and

(c) keep a record of representations made by residents in response to the notice.

(2c) The Supreme Court may, on application, dispense with the requirement to comply with subsection (2b) if satisfied that it is appropriate in the circumstances of a particular case.

(2d) Notice of an application to the Supreme Court under subsection (2c) must be given to each resident.

(2e) An application for the termination of a retirement village scheme or part of a retirement village scheme under this section must include information about the results of consultation undertaken in accordance with subsection (2b) (if any).

(2f) In determining whether to approve the termination of a retirement village scheme or part of a retirement village scheme under this section, the Supreme Court must have regard to the following matters (insofar as the matters are relevant to the proposed termination):

(a) the views of residents of the retirement village (including the results of any consultation undertaken in accordance with subsection (2b)) and the operator in relation to the proposed termination;

(b) whether the proposed termination would be likely to benefit residents of the retirement village or may result in detriment to residents;

(c) whether the proposed termination would be likely to affect the capital value of residences in the retirement village;

(d) whether the proposed termination would be likely to involve a breach of any residence contracts;

(e) the conduct of the operator and residents of the retirement village,

and the Court may have regard to any other matter the Court considers to be relevant in the circumstances of the particular case.

No. 4. Clause 38, page 31, after line 10—After subclause (4) insert:

(5) Section 58—after subsection (4) insert:

(5) A reference in this section to a resident includes a person who is not in occupation of a residence but is, under a residence contract, entitled to payment of an exit entitlement and has not received payment of the exit entitlement.

No. 5. Schedule 1, page 40, after line 25—After clause 7 insert:

7A—Termination of retirement village scheme on application to Supreme Court

Subsections (2a) to (2f) of section 58 of the principal Act, as inserted by this Act, apply only in relation to proceedings commenced under section 58 of the principal Act after the commencement of section 38 of this Act.

Consideration in committee.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: I move:

That the Legislative Council's amendments be agreed to.

The ACTING CHAIR (Mr Odenwalder): There are five amendments from the Legislative Council. Are there any questions or general comments on any of these amendments?

Ms PRATT: The opposition intends to support all the amendments. However, as the lead speaker and the shadow minister, I would like to make a comment. Noting the genuine attention and intention and goodwill of the upper house, the bill comes back to us after quite a lengthy journey between the houses. I want to pay recognition to the crossbench in particular: the Hon. Frank Pangallo, the Hon. Robert Simms, and the Hon. Connie Bonaros, who each in their own endeavours have brought to the government and the opposition amendments that have required us to give due consideration to the continued challenge to strike a balance for both residents and operators through the review and amendment of this bill.

I want to thank the crossbench in the upper house, in the other place, for their efforts. I want to thank my colleagues for taking their own time to analyse what has been a very technical, layered and detailed bill with a number of amendments to consider in the first draft by the government. At the 11^th hour, some additional amendments introduced by the government that were welcomed by the opposition really did close the loop on the intention of this bill to capture not just prospective future residents but, in fact, those who have existing contracts.

I want to thank the minister and the department for their efforts in completing the consultation process, delivering the draft to the public for feedback and noting that, from the point of view of operators—SARVRA, which is the residential association peak body—individual residents who wrote to the government, the opposition and independent members of parliament, that this has been an example of a bill that has really tried to strike a balance.

We want to see for operators and property developers a market that is inviting to them for the development of future housing that will incorporate mixed use, mixed purpose, and allow for people of my parents' generation choice when it comes to ageing well at home, and I think the bill has done this.

At the heart of it has been the endeavour to achieve outcomes for residents: residents who in many years past have entered into contracts that have since caused them distress. I think that we see now in this bill opportunities for current and future residents to see upfront, in a transparent way, the details of a contract and what services they should expect from the operator and what opportunities they have to live their best lives.

These comments that I make today are really intended to be a summary of a process that has endured for over 12 months. I think that across both sides of the chamber we have been able to strike that balance. With those concluding remarks, I support the passage of the bill in its final stage.

Motion carried.