Faafoi KrisHon ALFRED NGARO (National): I do want to acknowledge the Minister in the chair the Hon Kris Faafoi as a hard-working Minister. When he stated his integrity that he actually has been working on it for some time it's a pity that it wasn't included during the select committee process because here we are now—and I'm bringing this question to the Minister because the fact is that we haven't had a chance to deliberate in select committee which I think is critically important. If I can draw the Minister to his Supplementary Order Paper 565 and in particular the new section 56B(3) If there are other tenants (remaining tenants) under the tenancy at the time of the withdrawal—(a) the tenant withdrawing from the tenancy (the withdrawing tenant) ceases to be responsible to the landlord for obligations under the tenancy agreement and this Act".Now further on down in new subsection (5) there's a calculation there. Now again because of the shortness of time I'm just trying to work out this calculation. I wonder if the Minister with the help of his officials can help us understand this calculation because it is quite confusing to understand this. We've got "a" which is rent that's payable over a two-week period then "b" is the rent that would otherwise have been payable for the two-week period. So is that the reduction of that? Then it's got divided by "c" which is the number—say there's two tenants and one withdraws because of this subsection leaves one times the one. So if the Minister can give us just I suppose an example of what that would look like so that members of the public would know what this actually means for them that would very helpful. Thank you.Hon KRIS FAAFOI (Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing)): Thank you Madam Chair. Can I thank the member for the question because it is a very good one. Just to inform the committee what this is about—the new component of the bill—is that we'll allow victims of family violence to leave that tenancy under two days' notice if they are feeling unsafe. So that obviously leaves a situation where you've got remaining tenants who might be liable for the full rent.The calculation within the section that the member speaks to—sorry I'll just put my glasses on—might look complicated but I think it's relatively simple. I'll give the example: if five of us were on a tenancy and weekly rent was $500 we would divide the $500 by five. Then the rent that the remaining tenants would be liable for for a two-week period would be $400 because we would all be liable on an average for $100 of rent. That is only a responsibility of the remaining tenants for two weeks and then they would return to full rent giving some time to either sort themselves out or get another tenant in. So again it depends on the number of people who are on the tenancy divided—I'll start again. So if five of us were on the tenancy agreement at $500 a week we would divide the $500 by five. The remaining tenants would pay—if it were obviously four tenants left—four times the $100. So that's how the formula for that relief for the remaining tenants for two weeks is calculated. Then it's back to normal because we don't want that to have an undue burden on the landlord.Hon ALFRED NGARO (National): So another question then to that. So who incurs the cost or who wears the burden? Is it the landlord then the shortfall and in this case over the two-week period would be $200. Is that the case because again I've just been looking through the other sections that are here. I can't quite see with some clarity who then wears the burden of that cost of the $200 given the Minister's calculation?Hon KRIS FAAFOI (Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing)): Yeah look given some of the situations that tenants who might be in this sort of situation might be in there is obviously a sharing of the burden. We're working on averages here but some people have different rental arrangements. But the reduced rate of rent is obviously what the remaining tenants would pay—again only for two weeks. So obviously the tenants would pay the rent to the landlord who would for two weeks forgo whatever the difference is in order I think to make sure that the remaining tenants can make up their minds as to what they want to do: either remain in the tenancy or if they are forced to give notice to end the tenancy. We believe that strikes again the right balance between making sure that the person who is leaving the tenancy isn't leaving an undue burden or feeling like they can't leave for financial reasons.Hon ALFRED NGARO (National): One last question to the Minister then. So given the scenario the Minister has given there are five that are in there but one is leaving because I take it it could be an unsafe environment. So I'm looking into the new section. If this is to deal with the issues of family violence or domestic violence if the perpetrator of that violence is inside that tenancy then I'm just trying to see whether this would address that because in most cases a tenant wouldn't normally leave because if there is no risk issues or unsafe place it wouldn't be the reasons that they would leave their tenancy in this case. So I'm just trying to understand from the Minister because we know that these issues are quite complex but in this case the potential harm to other tenants that are in there if the Minister can hear the scenario I'm trying to play out here for the Minister.Hon KRIS FAAFOI (Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing)): Look I don't disagree with the member that situations would be complex but the principal aim of the amendment that he's referring to is the safety of the family violence victim in order to be able to give them the ability to leave the tenancy as quickly as possible to ensure their safety. So again depending on the situation that you're in the perpetrator may or may not be within the tenancy; if they were then I'm making an assumption that the remaining tenants might have to think about their future. But again the tenant may not be party to the tenancy. Again the overriding principle is making sure that we give the victim of family violence who feels that they need to exit this tenancy to keep themselves safe that safety valve in order to do that."