Dominic Perrottet has been caught criticizing his own future policy to help tenants as “socialist” just six months before announcing that landlords would be barred from evicting tenants without cause.
The New South Wales premier announced last week that his coalition government, if re-elected in state elections on March 25, would adopt a “reasonable grounds” model for evictions.
Rental vacancy rates are well below one per cent in regional parts of the state and tightening in Sydney.
This would change existing laws that allow landlords to evict a tenant with just 30 days notice at the end of the lease, or 90 days notice if they have a continuing lease, without giving a reason.
But on September 21, 2022, Perrottet declared that the Liberal Party he led supported property rights, going so far as to cite the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
‘This is a Liberal Government, not a socialist Green,’ he told the Legislative Assembly during Question Time.
Dominic Perrottet (pictured with his wife Helen) criticized his own future policy to help tenants as “socialist” just six months before announcing that landlords would be prohibited from evicting tenants without cause.
‘We believe in the right of people to own property and do what they want with it.’
Perrottet then proceeded to lecture Jenny Leong, a member of the Newtown Greens in Sydney’s gentrifying inner-west, on the 1948 UN principles.
“I thought the Newtown member would be interested in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which we are signatories,” he said.
‘Article 17 establishes: 1. Everyone has the right to property, both alone and in association with others. 2. No one may be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Perrottet also sparred with Labor’s shadow customer services minister, Yasmin Catley, who argued that the government’s plan to ensure landlords properly maintain their properties was not enough to protect tenants from being unfairly evicted if they did not they had done nothing wrong.
“That’s great, but not when you get kicked out of your house,” he said.
The prime minister expressed shock at Labor’s plan to ban no-fault evictions.
‘Well. Interesting. New policy. Thank you,’ she said.
Perrottet then proceeded to lecture Jenny Leong (pictured), a member of the Newtown Greens in Sydney’s gentrifying inner-west, on the 1948 UN principles.
Perrottet then reiterated his view that banning evictions without cause was “socialist”.
“We can say that the Liberals and the Nationals will not take the same approach as the socialist approach of Labor and the Greens,” he said.
‘I appreciate the new policy announcement from the House floor today.’
But Perrottet announced on March 3 that if he won the March 25 election, he would explore a “reasonable cause” model for evictions, ban rent bidding, and extend the notice period for the end of fixed-term leases. 30 days to 45 days. .
“These new measures will provide even greater certainty and flexibility for nearly a million tenants in NSW,” it said.
Rose Jackson, the Labor party’s shadow minister for housing and the homeless, said Perrottet’s political backlash was a sign of a prime minister worried about losing the election, with the Coalition seeking a fourth successive term.
“Dominic Perrotett’s sudden change of heart cannot be taken seriously,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
“It’s just another example of the prime minister making up policies on the run just to ensure his own political survival.
“When it comes to improving the lives of tenants in New South Wales, the Liberals simply cannot be trusted.”
Perrottet’s media team refused to respond to Daily Mail Australia, but Fair Trade Minister Victor Dominello, who is retiring at this election as a Ryde member, argued that the Coalition’s policy was different to that proposed by the Green.
“The Greens’ proposal went far beyond what was proposed by the NSW Liberal and National government,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘At the same time, the NSW National and Liberal government’s commitment is more than what NSW Labor has promised to tenants.
“The NSW Liberal and National Government believes the Greens’ punitive approach goes too far, creating an imbalance between the rights of tenants and landlords, and that is why we do not support it.”
The Liberal Party lost the Bega seat on the south coast to Labor last year in a by-election, with 12 percent voting against.
The rental vacancy rate in this area is an ultra-tight 0.3 percent, SQM Research data shows.
Sydney had a rental vacancy rate of 1.3% in January 2023, a big drop from 2.3% a year earlier after Australia’s border reopened to immigrants and international students (pictured). , a queue during that month in Randwick, in the southeast of the city)
Sydney had a rental vacancy rate of 1.3 percent in January 2023, a big drop from 2.3 percent a year earlier after Australia’s border reopened to immigrants and international students.
“The increase in net long-term and permanent foreign arrivals relative to the supply of new residential properties is ensuring that extremely stringent rental conditions continue for the foreseeable future,” said SQM Research.
Courtney Houssos, the shadow labor minister for better regulation, has vowed to establish a Rent Commissioner to only allow evictions for reasonable grounds, ban secret rent tenders, make it easier to keep pets and implement a portable bond scheme.
“While it’s great that the Liberals have decided to adopt Labor’s policy of banning land evictions, it’s disappointing that it took them 12 years to do so,” he said.
The Coalition has been in power since 2011, making it the longest unbroken race in New South Wales for the Conservative side of politics since the Liberal Party was formed in 1944.
A Liberal Party prime minister has not won the Coalition for a fourth successive term since 1973, when Robert Askin was in charge.