Mr ANOULACK CHANTHIVONG (Macquarie Fields) (15:25): — Via video link: I welcome this debate on the Property Services Council Bill 2021.

I thank the Member for Orange and his colleague in the other place The Hon. Mark Banasiak for bringing the bill before the House.

The Parliament's website says that the electorate of Orange comprises almost 17,000 square kilometres, so there is little doubt the member for Orange has done a lot of travelling, consulting and listening to his constituents and stakeholders.

He is very well informed on the issues in the bill. He is also well known for his common-sense approach in this place.

Unlike many of the members who sit on the Government benches, his feet stay firmly on the ground as he holds the Government to account to deliver for his constituents.

Indeed, getting to know the Member for Orange and interacting with him has been one of the joys during my time as a Member of Parliament. I congratulate him on his work in this area.

My electorate is very similar to the electorate of Orange, despite their distance and demographic differences. Both have constituents who simply want a fair go and to be heard, and they want a government that helps and protects them and their families.

In that context, I welcome this debate on the bill. Real estate, in all of its manifestations, is of interest to us all. More often than not, real estate is one of the issues that is raised at dinner at home, in a restaurant or at a party. In Sydney, copy space for real estate-related matters dominates many of the city's papers. Whether we buy, rent or lease, we all have a stake in the real estate industry.

Like many Members, I have been contacted by real estate agents and other interested stakeholders about the bill. One letter I received said, “It's no secret that the relationship between the property services industry and NSW Fair Trading is not productive.”

Fair Trading has repeatedly demonstrated its inability to understand the complexity of property transactions, protect consumers and support the industry. Agency practice is undergoing significant disruption. The use of technology and consumers' expectations of immediacy are two examples of that. To respond to these challenges, we need an industry-experienced regulatory authority that will work cooperatively and constructively with the property services industry.

The Property Services Council Bill 2021 has passed through the Upper House. However, the Government in the Lower House opposes the bill, which is a great disappointment.

If the bill can manoeuvre its way through the parliamentary processes, it will establish a dedicated Property Services Commissioner who will have industry knowledge and experience. The role will replicate that of the Legal Services Commissioner and the Building Services Commissioner.

I received another email on this matter from an interested stakeholder who is in favour of the bill who wrote, “Real estate has been pivotal to New South Wales' economic recovery. It's in all of our interests that this continues.”

The Government and the property services industry must work together to ensure market confidence for this to happen. All stakeholders will benefit from a united approach that focusses on supporting consumers through the biggest transaction of their lives.

Unfortunately, NSW Fair Trading refuses to engage with the property services industry and, as I understand it, has even committed to a campaign of denigrating the image of the industry in the eyes of the consumer. No‑one wins with this damaging approach and it needs to end.

Government members should support the urgent need for regulatory reform, vote to pass the bill and give the property services industry the dedicated industry‑experienced commissioner it so desperately needs.

The emails I have received highlight many of the key issues that prompted the introduction of the bill. Passing the bill should not be difficult, nor should it be particularly controversial.

Labor is committed to protecting consumers when they purchase a home. Further, Labor supports the appropriate regulation of the real estate industry and the proposal for an independent commissioner and authority. It staggers me that the Government opposes the bill; one can only imagine why.

The Property Services Council Bill has been the subject of widespread consultation. It will simplify licence applications, improve industry standards, reduce regulatory burden on licensees and, most importantly, appoint a transparent regulatory authority that will include an independent Property Services Commissioner with real knowledge and experience of real estate.

It has been decades since the last major overhaul of the property services industry in New South Wales. In that time so much has changed. The bill seeks to reflect the fact that things have changed, not least in the property and real estate industries.

We should always look to do things better. The Property Services Council Bill will do that in an area of life that is so important to all of us.

I commend the bill to the House. I again thank the Member for Orange, his colleague The Hon. Mark Banasiak and my Labor colleagues in the Upper House for their hard work, diligence and commitment to the bill.