COMMUNITY HOUSING PROVIDERS (NATIONAL LAW) (SOUTH AUSTRALIA) BILL

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 17 October 2013.)

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (17:34): I rise on behalf of the Greens to support the Community Housing Providers (National Law) (South Australia) Bill 2013. I would like to thank the Minister for Housing, Tony Piccolo, for bringing this bill to the parliament. I also thank the minister's adviser, Michael Butler; the departmental advisers; Kelly Biggins, team leader for regulation reform-strategic program development; and Mr Greg Ryan, manager of Not-for-Profit Housing, for providing my office with a briefing.

The Greens believe that this bill is a significant step forward for South Australia. It is a belated step, as other jurisdictions have had this legislation before them for some time. I note that New South Wales and Queensland passed the relevant laws in 2012. The ACT and Tasmania passed their relevant bills earlier this year, while Victoria's and WA's bills are yet to progress. It looks like every state and territory will, however, have similar laws in the near future.

In regard to the so-called national law, there will be no commonwealth law; rather, each state and territory will enact legislation to give effect to the system and introduce similar legislation. New South Wales was the lead jurisdiction to enact legislation to give effect to the system, and I note in particular the Greens' work in that state. The development of the system before us has arisen out of the National Affordable Housing Agreement and the National Building Economic Stimulus Plan, where Australian governments made a commitment to undertake reforms that aim to increase social and affordable housing.

I acknowledge the work that has been undertaken in the drafting processes of this bill, and the minister has undertaken quite extensive consultation with the housing provider's sector and stakeholder groups. I appreciate that work and certainly always welcome genuine consultation where it is undertaken and where feedback is actually taken up. The implementation of this bill means the repeal of existing systems which duplicate the purpose of the so-called national law. The bill will supersede the South Australian Co-operative and Community Housing Act 1991 in order to ensure that community housing providers are subject to consistent regulation, irrespective of which jurisdiction they operate in, once all jurisdictions are on board.

The purpose of this bill is to implement a national regulatory system (the NRS). The NRS will be a national approach to ensuring a consistent regulatory system for all community housing providers in Australia. The bill will provide consistent legislation for this national system and be an asset to the community housing provider sector. The object of the bill is to support the development of community housing and make it easier for the providers of community housing to operate in more than one participating jurisdiction and attract investment into community housing from a range of stakeholders, and that is certainly to be welcomed.

The community housing sector has largely supported this bill and acknowledged that it will bring great benefits. The purpose of regulating community housing providers is to improve tenant outcomes and to protect, in particular, vulnerable tenants, to enable innovative funding arrangements, to secure government's financial and non-financial interests in community assets, and to enhance investor and partner confidence, which is welcomed.

The providers will be placed with one central independent registrar. That registrar will be responsible for monitoring the performance of registered community housing providers. This is widely supported by the South Australian registered community housing providers we have spoken to. The registrar will also put in place a national approach to overcome the barriers, gaps and inconsistencies that currently exist, as each state and territory regulates housing providers in their different ways.

This bill ensures that community housing providers will be operating to the same standards and reporting to the same code, and that is welcome. This registrar, which the community housing sector is indeed welcoming, is beneficial because, in the event of organisational failures, registrars will be able to resolve inconsistencies. The Greens welcome this bill and rise to support it, but we also have some questions which we are keen that the minister respond to and which have been raised by those we have consulted with. They go to concerns raised with us with regard to the affordable housing program and its interaction with the community housing sector.

Can the government advise how the process operates for allocating 15 per cent of significant new housing developments to be set aside for affordable housing, including management by not-for-profit organisations? Can the government clarify who will be responsible for determining the 15 per cent of properties: who will allocate them and what oversight processes will there be and how will they work? Can the government also provide advice as to when this arrangement commenced and, indeed, how many affordable properties have been allocated within our state to date and how many are in development and expected to be allocated in the near future?

Can the government indicate what evidence there is that these provisions have benefited the intended target demographics, in particular, people from a low socioeconomic background? Can we have an indication of how many of these affordable dwellings have been purchased by or allocated to the community housing sector to manage at this stage and, indeed, in the near future? What information has been provided to the community housing sector about these arrangements and opportunities and, in general, how many Housing SA properties have been transferred to the community sector over the past five years?

What arrangements, protocols or guidelines exist with local government about their holdings of community land and the possibility of making some of this available to the community housing sector as joint ventures or otherwise? What will the impact of this national regulatory scheme be in terms of the on-the-ground outcomes in numbers of houses available to the community housing sector? Finally, can the minister advise what is the process for granting preferred growth provider (PGP) status within Housing South Australia? With that contribution, I commend the bill to the council.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. K.J. Maher.