Mr  J. BULL (Sunbury) — It is always a pleasure to follow the very hardworking member for Bentleigh. It does give me great pleasure to contribute to the debate on the Rooming House Operators Bill 2015. This is a very important bill. It is a bill that will put in place a range of safeguards and a range of measures to make sure that the most vulnerable people in our community, those that have in the past been taken advantage of due to a poorly regulated system, have the safeguards in place that they need and that they deserve. Despite the member for Burwood’s very colourful contribution, this is what this bill is designed to do. It ensures that safeguards are in place for rooming houses, and this government is certainly very proud of the legislation before the Parliament today.

There are many Victorians who we know are doing it tough. Many Victorians cannot afford a home, cannot afford weekly rent and cannot afford bills that come with being in such a home. The member for Shepparton in her contribution and also the member for Bentleigh spoke at length about those who are homeless. I see that there are a number of young people in the gallery today, and I certainly think that all members of Parliament would agree that it is vital that state and federal governments do all that they can to tackle homelessness. I am reminded of the difficulty that so many Victorians face in just keeping afloat. You only need to take a walk through the CBD, and certainly within my community in the Sunbury electorate, to see those who are doing it extremely tough.

One of the things that I think is important is that we acknowledge these people when we see them out and about in the community, whether that be through a coffee, a muffin, sharing something or saying hello as we walk past. The thing that is very easy to forget — the thing that many of us forget in our busy lives — is that these people deserve our respect and to be treated humanely. We must make sure that we acknowledge who they are. I think that just saying hello and looking them in the eye is something that we should all do, and we should all make a greater effort to do that.

This bill aims to crack down and eliminate predators who run shonky rooming houses. Despite the many operators who are doing the right thing and running decent rooming houses, those who do not run decent rooming houses do significant damage. A recent article published in the Age reported:

Last year the Age uncovered examples of rooming houses where up to six people were living in a one-bedroom apartment

…

Council to Homeless Persons chief executive Jenny Smith welcomed the push for new laws.

She said unscrupulous operators could close down one dodgy business and ‘go straight on to opening the next’.

‘Current legislation does not prevent this cycle of exploitation’, she said. ‘We know there are a number of operators with criminal backgrounds and histories of bad practice who are profiting from rooming house after rooming house without consequence.’

Ms Smith said that in 2014, she came across three separate rooming houses with broken windows, doors without locks, dangerous wiring and rats.

All three rooming houses were run by the same operators who had bullied and harassed residents.

‘If this bill is passed, we will be able to prevent people like this from operating rooming houses in the first place.’

I think that touches on all of the key issues that this legislation aims to address.

If we look at what we have in the current operating procedures in Victoria, under the public health and wellbeing standards, we know that rooming houses must be registered with a local council. The council may inspect the rooming house to see if it meets the regulations and standards that are set out in the Public Health And Wellbeing Regulations 2009.

These standards include but are not limited to at least one toilet for every 10 people; at least one bath or shower and one washbasin for every 10 people; a continuous and adequate supply of hot and cold water to all toilet, bathing, laundry, kitchen and drinking water facilities; and rooms and communal areas kept in a clean and well-maintained condition. Rooming houses must also have adequate and well-maintained hardwired smoke alarms to protect residents. Despite this, we know that this simply is not good enough. If we go back to the Age article and a number of things that honourable members have touched on, it is clear that we need a system in place. The legislation before the house is going to clean up the system.

If we look at the history of the legislation that underpins much of what has been discussed today, we know that in 2009 the Brumby Labor government established the Rooming House Standards Taskforce to take action against operators who intentionally provide substandard rooming houses. The importance of the task force was highlighted by the tragic deaths of two people in a fire in a rooming house in Brunswick in 2006. A number of members have mentioned that today.

Unfortunately some operators prey on the most vulnerable members of our community. The task force was asked to report on solutions to problems associated with poor-quality rooming house accommodation and services. That was in 2009, so seven years have gone by and we are now in a position where just today this legislation has come before the house. It is certainly worth noting that in the four long years those opposite were in government legislation like this was not brought before the house. I think this is something that is important in my community, and from listening very closely to the contributions other members have made today, I can see that it is important to many communities across the state.

The direct functions of the bill include establishing a licensing scheme for rooming house operators so that only fit and proper persons will be eligible to be licensed or have existing licences renewed. All operators, new and existing, will be required to demonstrate they are fit and proper persons in order to obtain licences. An applicant will not be granted a licence if they have been convicted of serious crimes in the past 10 years. This includes offences relating to violence, dishonesty, drug trafficking and sexual or child pornography crimes.

It is so important that those who are not regarded as fit and proper persons do not have the opportunity to establish rooming houses. We know that there is often a strong link between the way a person operates now and the way they have operated previously, if we consider things a person has been found guilty of or matters they been charged with before. We want to ensure that those who have been convicted of offences do not have the opportunity to then go and open rooming houses at their own leisure and take advantage of people who are socially in very difficult situations.

Under the bill an application will be refused if the applicant has been bankrupt or insolvent in the past decade or if a court has found they breached rooming house laws in the past five years. That goes back to the continual management and maintenance of this sector and ensuring that these people are fit and proper persons in relation to operating rooming houses. As we have heard, it will be an offence to operate a rooming house without a licence, and unlicensed operators will face harsh penalties of up to $36 000 for individuals or $180 000 for bodies corporate. The law will protect vulnerable tenants from being exploited by rogue operators who use bullying or harassing tactics. It will also help to stamp out operators who try to charge excessive rent, overcrowd rooms or do not meeting basic hygiene, safety or security standards.

This bill reinforces Labor’s commitment to social justice and safeguarding the needs of vulnerable people. It is crucial to ensure that people’s accommodation rights are protected, and that is why these measures we have discussed today are incredibly important. This government is one of action. Upon taking office, work immediately commenced on this bill so that the government could deliver on its promise to some of our most vulnerable Victorians.

I would ask members to consider how they might feel if a family member of theirs — a sister, a brother or a parent — was in a rooming house. What are the conditions that they would accept for their loved one? What are the conditions that they would think should be standard? What are the conditions they would accept for themselves? I am extremely proud of this bill, and I commend it to the house.