House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-04-05 Daily Xml

Contents

RESIDENTIAL TENANCIES TRIBUNAL

Mr GOLDSWORTHY (Kavel) (15:41): My question is to the Minister for Business Services and Consumers. Will the minister advise the house what immediate action is being taken to remedy the long delays with the Residential Tenancy Tribunal in hearing matters? The opposition has a copy of a letter from the minister which states:

The current timeframes for hearings at the Tribunal are of concern to me and I have asked the Commissioner for Consumer Affairs and the Presiding Member of the tribunal to take immediate action to remedy the situation.

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Planning, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (15:42): I thank the honourable member for the question. As I understood his explanation, he answered it for me.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.R. RAU: The honourable member asked me what I was doing about it. He has obtained by some means a copy of a letter which I recently sent both to the commissioner and to the presiding member of the tribunal saying, 'Look, I've had complaints. I'm not happy about it, so I would like you to explain to me how we are going to improve things.' That is the state of play. If you have the letter there, you might see the date, and I think you might find that the date is probably in the last week or thereabouts so, if we crack that question down, it is basically, 'Has Australia Post been able to process my letter to that person, and their response back to me in a week?' The answer to that is no.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr WILLIAMS: Point of order, Madam Speaker: I thought the Premier told the house that serious questions would get serious answers. I don't think this is a serious answer. This is a serious matter that has been raised by constituents.

The SPEAKER: The member will sit down. It seemed serious enough to me. He answered the question. He explained what his answer was.