NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said eviction policy for tenants without grounds was socialist

Dominic Perrottet has been caught criticizing his own future policy of helping tenants as a “socialist” just six months before announcing that landlords would not be allowed to evict tenants without cause.

The Prime Minister of NSW announced last week that his coalition government, if re-elected in the state election on March 25, would move to a ‘reasonable grounds’ model for evictions.

Rental vacancy rates are well below one percent in regional parts of the state and tightening in Sydney.

This would change existing laws that allow landlords to fire a tenant with just 30 days’ notice at the end of a lease, or 90 days’ notice if they have a continuing lease, without cause.

But on September 21, 2022, Mr. Perrottet stated that the Liberal Party he led supported property rights, going as far as citing the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

“This is a liberal government, not a socialist Greens,” he told the Legislative Assembly during question time.

“We believe in people’s right to own property and do what they want with it.”

Mr Perrottet then proceeded to read to Jenny Leong, the Greens member for Newtown in Sydney’s gentrified inner-west, about the 1948 UN Principles.

“I thought the Newtown member would be interested in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which we signed,” he said.

‘Article 17 reads: 1. Everyone has the right to property, alone or in association with others. 2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.”

Mr Perrottet also sparred with Yasmin Catley, Labour’s shadow minister for customer service, who claimed the government’s plan to ensure landlords take good care of their properties was insufficient to protect tenants from unfair eviction if they had done nothing wrong .

“That’s all well and good, but not if you get evicted,” she said.

The Prime Minister was shocked by Labour’s plan to ban no-fault evictions.

‘Okay. Interesting. New policy. Thank you,’ he said.

Mr Perrottet then reiterated his opinion that banning evictions without grounds is ‘socialist’.

“We can say that the Liberals and Nationals will not take the same approach as the socialist approach of Labor and the Greens,” he said.

“I appreciate that new policy announcement from the House today.”

But Mr Perrottet announced on March 3 that if he won the March 25 election, he would explore a ‘reasonable grounds’ model for evictions, ban rent bidding and extend the notice period for the end of fixed-term leases from 30 days to 45 days. .

“These new measures will provide even greater security and flexibility to nearly one million tenants in NSW,” he said.

Rose Jackson, Labour’s shadow minister for housing and homelessness, said Perrottet’s political decline was a sign of a prime minister worried about losing the election as the coalition sought a fourth consecutive term.

“Dominic Perrotett’s sudden change of heart cannot be taken seriously,” she told Daily Mail Australia.

It’s just another example of the prime minister making up policies on the run to ensure his own political survival.

“When it comes to improving the lives of tenants across New South Wales, the Liberals simply cannot be trusted.”

Mr Perrottet’s media team declined to comment on Daily Mail Australia, but Fair Trade Minister Victor Dominello, who will retire from Ryde at this election, argued that the coalition’s policies were different from what the Greens had suggested.

“The Greens’ proposal went well beyond what has been proposed by the NSW Liberal and Nationals government,” he told Daily Mail Australia.

“At the same time, the commitment of the NSW Liberal and Nationals government is more than NSW Labor has promised tenants.

“The Liberal and National Government of NSW believes the punitive approach of the Greens goes too far, creating an imbalance between the rights of tenants and landlords, and so we have not supported it.”

The Liberal Party lost Bega’s South Coast seat to Labor last year, in a by-election, by a 12 per cent vote against.

The rental vacancy rate in this area is a very tight 0.3 percent, according to data from SQM Research.

Sydney had a rental vacancy rate of 1.3 percent in January 2023, a big drop from the 2.3 percent a year earlier after the Australian border reopened to migrants and international students.

“The strong increase in the net number of foreign and permanent arrivals abroad relative to the supply of new homes means that extremely tight rental conditions will continue for the foreseeable future,” said SQM Research.

Courtney Houssos, Labor’s Shadow Minister for Better Regulation, has pledged to appoint a Rental Commissioner to only allow evictions on reasonable grounds, ban secret hire bids, make it easier to have pets and introduce a transferable bond scheme. feed.

“While it is great that the Liberals have decided to adopt Labour’s policy of not banning evictions, it is disappointing that it has taken them 12 years to do this,” she said.

The coalition has been in power since 2011, making it the longest continuous run in NSW for the Conservative side of politics since the formation of the Liberal Party in 1944.

A Liberal party prime minister has not won the coalition for the fourth consecutive time since 1973, when Robert Askin was in charge.