Member for Coffs Harbour Gurmesh Singh said the NSW Labor Government had failed in its first attempt at rental reform, backflipping on the secret rent bidding ban and abandoning the measure.
Mr Singh, who is also Shadow Minister for Tourism, Emergency Services and the North Coast, said the broken promise will place more uncertainty and anxiety on renters and the property industry on the Coffs Coast.
“At a time when rental prices are increasing and becoming unaffordable, we need a Government that comprehends the current challenges and helps renters find a home,” Mr Singh said.
“Our region deserves better than yet another backflip from the Labor Government.”
Opposition Leader Mark Speakman said it was clear that Labor hadn’t done the work in developing legislation to ban secret rent bidding.
“The Government rushed the process, did not properly consult stakeholders and experts, and ignored their warnings,” Mr Speakman said.
“The Labor broken promises are mounting. They’re backflipping on election promises. They promised to ban secret rental bidding and have now backflipped. They promised to roll over Active Kids and are now looking to cancel it. They promised that extra wage increases would cost nothing and be offset with productivity gains but it’s now going to cost $618 million per annum. They promised no privatisation but they’re now looking to privatise public land.”
Shadow Fair Trading Minister Tim James said the Government should have never attempted to introduce such under-prepared policy.
“If Labor did the homework, and listened to the community and experts earlier, it wouldn’t be forced into a backflip on this poorly conceived idea that everyone had said would inflate rents,” Mr James said.
“The Government needs to explain why they ignored repeated warnings that this policy will create a rental auction that fuels rent increases, putting a home further out of reach for millions of NSW renters.”
