Strange JamieJAMIE STRANGE (Labour): There's a phrase that comes to mind: rose-tinted glasses." We've heard a number of times today from the Opposition members about how things were so good in the good old days under the previous regime. But things were not good under the previous regime particularly in the area of housing. Yes "challenges" "crisis"; call it what you want but this Government inherited huge challenges in the housing industry. In fact let me respond—there's a song that comes to mind about the good old days: Yesterday All my troubles seemed so far awayBut now I know they're here to stay. I believe in yesterday. The Opposition believe in yesterday but this Government believe in today. We believe in making a difference today—and this piece of legislation is doing that.Homes are an absolute important aspect of one's life. It's important that each human being has a safe secure warm dry home to live in. The importance of certainty around housing is absolutely vital; it affects education it affects health and it affects every area of a person's life. I'm proud that this Government is doing some excellent things in this area. For example—we've banned letting fees and we are progressing reform of the Residential Tenancies Act. This provides the incentives for people who are renting to stay in a house for longer. We've seen when people move from house to house how much it affects their life. I mentioned education before—and in particular students that I've taught who have moved from house to house school to school it really affects their education in a negative way. Now this bill here talks about tenants and landlords and it strikes an excellent balance between the requirements of both. I've been a tenant myself and I've been a landlord myself so I feel like I can speak across both sides. I'm absolutely confident that this bill does work well for both parties.Firstly it clarifies the law in respect to tenant liability for damage. Secondly it ensures that the Residential Tenancy Act applies to all premises intended for residential use even if they're unlawful for residential purposes. Thirdly the bill sets out the rights and responsibilities that parties have in relation to contaminants and contamination—and specifically methamphetamine. So the first aspect of this bill talks about tenant liability. The member opposite quite rightly mentioned the Court of Appeal decision in the Holler v Osaki case in 2016 and I agree with the member that there was certainly an aspect of injustice in that case—and that case highlighted that. This bill has in many ways sort of stemmed out of that aspect there. So what's required is for the landlord to inform the tenant around the insurance policy so that a tenant is liable for the destruction or damage caused by a careless act or omission of the tenant or a person the tenant was responsible for up to the value of their landlord's insurance excess if applicable but not more than four weeks' rent. So this gives an aspect of certainty for the tenant knowing what the insurance policy is and knowing what the excess is but it also gives an aspect of certainty for the landlord around that. We've seen that uncertainty in a society causes huge issues. I was recently over in the UK and I've seen first-hand the uncertainty and some of the challenges around Brexit that they have over there. When there is uncertainty it affects housing it affects business; it affects all aspects. In this aspect this bill basically clears that up. It strikes a balance between keeping landlords cost-neutral as much as possible incentivising tenants to take care of rental properties and protecting tenants from excessive risks and costs. Now the reality is that most landlords are good honest people that look after their property and look after the tenant. Most tenants are good honest people that look after the property. However laws exist—often at the margins—where there are challenging circumstances. It's important that legislation does strike a good balance; that legislation is balanced that it's clear and that it's reasonable—and this certainly is all those three things. So landlords are required to inform tenants in a new tenancy agreement if the premises are uninsured so that the tenant is aware of that and if the premises are insured the amount of each relevant excess for each insurance policy. So it adds that aspect of certainty there. A second part of this bill is around methamphetamine and contaminants. Now methamphetamine is a huge blight on our society. It's been estimated that 31000 people smoke meth per year which is almost 1 percent of the population. It's an issue that I know the previous Government and this Government have been doing a lot of work on because it is causing huge social challenges in our society. So what this bill does is it establishes a regime for dealing with contaminants such as methamphetamine and not just methamphetamine but a broad aspect of contaminants. While there's a lot of uncertainty among landlords about how to deal with methamphetamine contamination this bill will provide for a more practical regime which is flexible enough to address the health risks of any harmful substance in a rental premises including methamphetamine. I have previously mentioned in this House the aspect of the importance of companies giving accurate tests around methamphetamine. I've experienced examples of companies giving inaccurate tests for the sole purpose of effectively trying to make money so then the landlords have to rip off all the Gib when the reality is that if a second company had done that test it would have been different. So it's an issue that's constantly evolving and it's an important issue. The aspect of certainty that this bill provides is very important. The bill inserts definitions of "contaminant" "methamphetamine" and "contaminated". Methamphetamine is defined as a contaminant. It also inserts new landlord obligations. Here we go—the landlord obligations: to comply with all requirements in respect of contaminants imposed by regulations. So if a property has had meth in it previously and it's been accurately tested then when new tenants are about to move in the onus is on the landlord to ensure that the tenants know the history of that house and to know that it's absolutely clear before they shift in. So this is about the wellbeing of the tenant. As I said before most landlords are good honest people. But it's important that the tenants have that aspect of care and that aspect of certainty around that.I might just mention a couple more things in closing here—[Interruption]—the Opposition is certainly very interested in hearing from me! The bill inserts landlord obligations to not provide premises to a tenant if the landlord knows that the premises are contaminated until they've been decontaminated.There's a third one I haven't mentioned: they should not continue to provide rental premises to a tenant if the landlord knows that the premises are contaminated unless they are being decontaminated. So this is something that we haven't had to deal with up until probably around sort of four or five years ago when methamphetamine became an issue for our society. One of the key ways we are also dealing with this is another piece of legislation that ties in with that and that's stopping methamphetamine coming into the country because that's the best outcome that we can do. I acknowledge the Hon Tim Macindoe who sits on another committee with me where we've done some good work around customs giving power to our customs officials and our navy to board vessels in international waters if they believe that there are drugs on board—methamphetamine. So that's just to highlight the aspect that this bill is not in isolation. It's not in isolation so we're dealing with meth coming into the country. We're dealing with landlords and tenants. We're striking the right balance between care and properties being looked after. There's a lot of work to do in housing. There is a lot of work to do. We inherited a number of challenges—Andrew Bayly: I know. We want to get on with it. JAMIE STRANGE: —and I know the Opposition are very keen to make a full and frank contribution to this debate so I will wind up at this point. But I am certainly very proud of the efforts that this Government is making in the housing area and I look forward to a full contribution from the member opposite."