Dr MARJORIE O'NEILL (Coogee) (12:09): My question is addressed to the Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading. Will the Minister update the House on how the Minns Labor Government is taking action to improve the lives of people living in strata communities?
Mr ANOULACK CHANTHIVONG (Macquarie Fields—Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading, Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Innovation, Science and Technology, Minister for Building, and Minister for Corrections) (12:09): I thank the member for Coogee for her question. I know how important this is to her community, given the number of residents in her electorate who live in strata communities. Her strong advocacy is much appreciated. This Government has a clear plan to increase housing supply. Part of that supply is around urban consolidation for people to live in medium- to high-density housing. We are confronting the housing challenges we have inherited, but we are certainly not going to wait any longer to ensure that people living in strata communities are governed by strata laws that are modern, contemporary and up to date. Unlike the previous Government, we are not going to let the 2021 statutory review gather dust. We will introduce legislation on this front to ensure that we continue to address the complexities and challenges for communities living in strata.
Firstly, the Government has fulfilled its election commitment to appoint a strata commissioner. Mr John Minns—the second most popular Minns in New South Wales; I am told he is no relation to the Premier—has been appointed as the Property Services Commissioner. He will be a strong advocate responsible for the oversight of this important and growing sector. At its core, the role of commissioner will be to help improve day-to-day living for residents and owners in strata schemes. The commissioner's appointment demonstrates this Government's authentic and sincere commitment to strata sector reform and its commitment to confronting the challenges that arise as more and more people in our communities live in strata arrangements.
Secondly, a crucial part of our Government's plan to increase housing supply is to make sure that the rules governing strata are up to date. We have inherited a significant housing supply shortfall, which is putting pressure on rental and housing affordability. We are working hard to build more homes. There are more now than 85,000 strata schemes in New South Wales compared with just 50,000 in 1996. An average of 1,000 strata schemes have been registered every single year over the past decade. Given the Government's housing agenda, more and more strata schemes will come onto the system in coming years. As that happens, we want to make sure that quantity and quality go hand in hand. Setting up and establishing the NSW Building Commission will ensure that we build strata complexes that are of a high quality. This is critical because a house is the biggest investment 99 per cent of us will make. [Extension of time]
We are reforming our strata laws to make sure that quantity and quality of supply go hand in hand. Thirdly, the former Government neglected people living in strata by failing to progress the 2021 statutory review of strata laws, but we will not make the same mistake. The urgency is too great. Complexes are in high demand. We will reform the laws and make sure the rules governing strata keep pace with the number of strata schemes. The statutory review made 139 recommendations, none of which were progressed by the former Government. We will make progress. The Government has acted quickly and will introduce a bill this week.
I point out the core parts of the legislation. The bill closes loopholes in the strata collective sale and renewal process. This will end a situation where owners who want to sell are taken advantage of by rogue developers. The bill gets rid of fees and bonds as a condition of having pets, because owners already pay levies to fund those things. The bill ensures that repairs over $30,000 are subject to a competitive process to ensure that strata owners get fair, high-quality quotes. Finally, the bill will allow Fair Trading to step in when owners corporations become dysfunctional. But this is only the start. Next year more legislation is planned to further improve protections for owners and lift the accountability of developers, agents and strata managers.
The previous Government ignored the needs of people living in strata. We will not make the same mistake. We have appointed a Property Services Commissioner who will be a driver for change and reform. We have an ambitious agenda to increase both the quality and quantity of housing supply, and we are committed to ensuring that we have robust and fairer laws to benefit people living in strata.
