Today in Parliament, Abigail spoke in support of the Residential Tenancies Amendment (Domestic Violence Reform) Bill 2025, which strengthens protections for tenants who are victim-survivors of domestic and family violence, introducing clearer definitions, expanded competent persons, and improved processes for bond recovery, property damage, and emergency lock changes.
Abigail said:
On behalf of The Greens, and as our spokesperson for gendered violence and abuse, I speak in support of the Residential Tenancies Amendment (Domestic Violence Reform) Bill 2025. The Greens welcome the bill. It strengthens the existing provisions in the Residential Tenancies Act [RTA], which provide protections for tenants who are victim-survivors of domestic and family violence, and addresses some identified gaps in the legislation. The bill builds on the reforms passed by the New South Wales Parliament in 2018 that amended the Residential Tenancies Act to establish much-needed protections for adult victim-survivors and their children renting in New South Wales. Those reforms included enabling a victim-survivor to terminate a tenancy without financial penalty in circumstances of domestic violence, embedding protections for victim‑survivors from being penalised for property damage caused by a perpetrator, and introducing protections to prevent victim-survivors from being blacklisted on a tenancy database when a tenancy was ended using a domestic violence termination order.
I thank my colleague in the other place Jenny Leong, the member for Newtown and The Greens spokesperson for housing, for her important work in driving the fight for renters' rights and protections in New South Wales. I also put on record our thanks to the Minister for Housing for working collaboratively with The Greens throughout this process to come to an agreement on some specific matters that we raised. We welcome the bill and are grateful for the Minister's work and commitment to strengthening protections in a considered manner for renters who are victim-survivors of domestic and family abuse. I look forward to continuing to work with the Minister's office to address ongoing gaps in the system.
The bill seeks to act on 20 of the 21 recommendations requiring legislative amendment according to the statutory review of domestic violence provisions in the Residential Tenancies Act. Those changes are widely supported by stakeholders across sectors, including the Tenants' Union of NSW, Domestic Violence NSW and Women's Legal Services NSW. The Greens are glad to see the Government acting on those important changes, which have been identified through ongoing consultations across many years. However, there is still a long way to go in ensuring victim-survivors who are renting—including adult and child victim-survivors and their companion animals—are afforded robust protections and supported to leave violence and secure safe, long-term housing.
The bill introduces a definition of domestic abuse in the RTA as having the same meaning as in the Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007. Currently, domestic and family abuse is referenced in an inconsistent manner throughout the RTA, which has resulted in gaps on the ground through the implementation of the 2018 reforms. I note that one of the domestic and family violence sector's primary concerns with the domestic violence provisions in the RTA is the lack of a consistent and robust definition. While the provisions in the bill are an important step forward, a non-restrictive list of domestic and family violence that takes into account the nuances of abuse would build a strong foundation for protections given to victim-survivors who are renting in New South Wales. However, I note that is by no means simple to legislate, and requires significant, ongoing and considered sector-wide consultation. I understand that the Minister and the department are aware of and actively looking at that, and I look forward to seeing it addressed further in future.
Beyond legislative action, the nuances of domestic abuse and the provisions in the RTA must be addressed on the ground through training and raising of awareness amongst landlords, real estate agents and NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal [NCAT] staff. For many years, stakeholders in the domestic and family violence sector have called for tribunal members, real estate agents and landlords to undergo mandatory training about domestic and family abuse, including the nature and dynamics of different types of abuse, and the specific domestic violence provisions in the RTA. I urge the Government to develop and implement such mandatory training to ensure those reforms are properly realised for victim-survivors.
New section 105C in the bill introduces an explanation for the meaning of "evidence of domestic abuse" by an alleged perpetrator against a tenant or dependent child of the tenant in the context of the RTA provisions. A declaration made in accordance with new section 105E refers to a declaration made by a competent person. That declaration is heavily relied upon by victim-survivors who are renting and seeking to get a domestic violence termination notice [DVTN], which is why the domestic and family violence sector has called for the list to be expanded even more to become more accessible for all victim-survivors. New section 105D expands the existing list of competent persons who are empowered to make a declaration that a tenant or dependent child of a tenant is a victim of domestic abuse by an alleged perpetrator.
The Greens support the new provisions proposed in the bill to expand that list, which will address some key gaps that have previously prevented victim-survivors from accessing a declaration. The bill expands the list to include a person who is eligible to become but not currently a member of the Australian Association of Social Workers. The list was previously restricted to people who were registered as members and to prescribed employees of government agencies that provide services to children and to young people and their families directly relating to both child welfare and child abuse or neglect. The bill also clarifies that a competent person can be a prescribed employee of a government agency that provides services relating to domestic violence, sexual assault, or refuge or emergency accommodation, as well as a prescribed employee of a non-government agency that receives funding to provide services relating to domestic violence, sexual assault, or refuge or emergency accommodation.
During the 2022 statutory review, stakeholders in the domestic and family violence sector called for the list to be expanded even further to include disability advocates, Aboriginal corporations, community access workers, homelessness or housing workers, and tenancy workers and advocates. From The Greens' perspective, disability advocacy services staff who are appropriately qualified and equipped to act as a competent person in the context of the RTA provisions are of particular importance. People with disability experience violence in a range of ways and at much higher rates than those without disability, especially women with disability, who are 40 per cent more likely to experience domestic and family violence and abuse than women without disability. Victim-survivors who are disabled also face significant barriers to accessing support, with mainstream services almost always inaccessible and rarely inclusive. Those victim-survivors are frequently unable to access the help of the competent persons listed in the RTA, or face added barriers to doing so.
Independent disability advocacy services provide irreplaceable support and assistance to individuals with disability, and victim-survivors commonly disclose abuse and violence to employees working in those services. Including those services in the list of competent persons is crucial to ensuring people with disability can access the protections for victim-survivors of domestic violence who are renting in New South Wales. In a similar vein, First Nations victim-survivors face significant and nuanced systemic barriers to accessing support. The Greens believe that the inclusion of Aboriginal corporations is critical. I note that those have not been incorporated in the bill; however, I understand that the Minister is currently in the process of reviewing the regulations and that there is an intention to include some of those services in the list of competent persons following further consultation.
The Greens were initially inclined to propose amendments to include disability advocacy services and Aboriginal corporations in the list. However, we are satisfied that the Government is actively looking at them, and there is a clear intention to ensure that victim-survivors who are particularly vulnerable, marginalised or face additional barriers are able to access a competent person. I again thank the Minister, the Minister's office and the department for engaging with The Greens in a collaborative manner on that. I also put on record that The Greens considered moving amendments to explicitly empower victim-survivors to appoint a representative to act on their behalf in the tribunal, including to answer questions and make submissions, if a tenancy was terminated because of domestic abuse.
Victim-survivors face enormous barriers to accessing justice pathways, including within tribunal processes. Under section 45 of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013, a party to proceedings in the tribunal may be represented by another person, but only if the tribunal grants leave for that person to represent the party. The tribunal is given wide discretion to grant or refuse leave for a party's request for a representative. That frequently results in victim-survivors either being deterred from applying for a representative in the first place, or being denied one due to a lack of trauma-informed understanding and awareness amongst tribunal members. For those reasons, stakeholders across the domestic and family violence sector have called for broader reforms to create a presumption in favour of granting leave for victim-survivors to be represented in the tribunal.
In the absence of that, the sector has proposed making it explicit within the RTA for the purposes of its domestic abuse provisions. That is particularly important for matters relating to bond recovery and liability from damages. However, after engaging with the Government about that particular issue and the ongoing work in relation to the broader issues with the tribunal, The Greens are satisfied that that is being considered in a broader sense. I urge the Government to ensure it is done as a matter of priority and in close consultation with the domestic and family violence sector and victim-survivors to address the significant gaps in tribunal proceedings, which currently prevent victim-survivors of domestic, family and sexual violence from exercising their rights through those processes.
New section 105H in the bill shifts the onus onto landlords to notify other tenants about a DVTN, which The Greens support. New sections 174 and 175A seek to address gaps in the legislation that prevent victim‑survivors from safely and easily recovering their share of the bond when they escape violence and leave a tenancy, which is crucial for many individuals who are trying to find a secure rental elsewhere and pay a new bond. The bill provides new powers to NCAT to divide a rental bond into equal amounts paid by each tenant, and to make an order to facilitate repayment of the portion of the bond initially contributed by a victim-survivor who uses a DVTN. Currently, the rental bond is treated as indivisible, which has added significant barriers for victim‑survivors, who are oftentimes unable to recover their portion of the bond when ending a tenancy.
Difficulty recovering the bond is one of the most reported issues facing victim-survivors leaving a violent relationship while renting. In a 2022 survey by Women's Legal Service NSW, 50 per cent of survey respondents said the tenant did not even attempt to recover their portion of the bond, for reasons including it being too difficult, safety risks and fear of the perpetrator. The Greens believe that the provisions in the bill do not go quite far enough in enabling victim-survivors to easily claim their portion of the bond. The domestic and family violence sector has long called for changes to enable a tenant who has ended their tenancy using a DVTN to claim payment of their portion of the bond directly from the secretary, which is the preferred avenue. In saying that, I note that there is need for greater considered review of that as the bond held by the secretary attaches to the property and cannot currently be divided in that manner. The provisions in the bill are a solid step forward in addressing the broader issues in that respect.
The bill seeks to strengthen existing provisions preventing landlords from listing a tenant on a residential tenancy database if a tenancy is ended using a DVTN by expanding that to include tenants who could have used a DVTN but were unable to do so. There are many reasons for that to happen. The statutory review and reports from frontline services and victim-survivors have made it clear that there are gaps in the existing provisions protecting victim-survivors in circumstances where property damage is caused by the perpetrator. Victim‑survivors are often liable for such property damage that was not their fault, which not only causes situations where victim-survivors are faced with unfair costs but also enables perpetrators to weaponise systems against victim-survivors in that respect.
New sections 54 and 54A seek to clarify that neither a victim nor another cotenant who is not the alleged perpetrator of domestic abuse are to be liable for property damage that occurs in conjunction with conduct that would reasonably be considered to be domestic abuse. New section 54B provides that the tribunal may make an order determining liability for an act or omission that constitutes or results in damage and occurs during domestic abuse and, in doing so, the tribunal must consider evidence of domestic abuse that relates to the act or omission, may consider other matters, and must make the decision on the balance of probabilities.
New section 55AA of the Act seeks to strengthen existing provisions relating to landlords and agents giving notice to tenants before taking photos or recordings of the interior or exterior of the premises during a residential tenancy agreement. Under the new section a landlord or their agent must not take such photographs or recordings if they will be published and the tenant has not been given at least seven days notice and a reasonable opportunity to move their possessions or those of a dependent child of the tenant so that they do not appear in the photos. New section 55A provides that a tenant's written consent must be obtained before publishing a photo or recording. That is really important when it may not be obvious to the landlord why a tenant may not want a particular possession or other identifying feature included in a photo or recording.
Stakeholders across the domestic and family violence sector have supported those changes, arguing that tenants should be given a reasonable time, and landlords and agents should be required to obtain a tenant's written consent prior to each time they want to publish material. I understand that the seven-day notice period stipulated in the bill was determined in an attempt to meet the interests of both tenants and landlords. The Greens have some reservations about whether seven days is a reasonable time frame, and I urge the Government to monitor its implementation to evaluate the impact on the ground.
Finally, new sections 71 to 72 seek to expand protections for victim-survivors regarding the ability to change the lock on a rental home in an emergency domestic abuse situation. The bill expands the current list of reasonable excuses for which a tenant can change the lock on a rental home without first seeking landlord permission to explicitly include circumstances where a tenant reasonably believes that changing the lock is necessary to prevent themselves, their dependent or another tenant from being subject to domestic abuse. A victim‑survivor in that situation is not required to give a copy of the new key to the perpetrator but must give a key to any non-perpetrator cotenants and the landlord.
In the current section 71 of the Act, an apprehended violence order is the only order specified as being a reasonable excuse for a victim-survivor to change a lock in emergency circumstances. New section 71 of the Act removes the reference to an apprehended violence order and instead refers to a broader range of orders, or legal prohibitions, that can be used as the basis for reasonable excuses. A "legal prohibition" is defined in new section 70A to include an apprehended violence order; a local, interstate or foreign domestic violence order; an injunction granted under the Commonwealth Family Law Act 1975; and bail and parole conditions.
In conclusion, I recognise the decades of work, expertise and experience of the specialist domestic and family violence sector that have informed the important reforms in the bill as well as the reforms passed in 2018. Strengthening protections and rights for victim-survivors of domestic and family violence and abuse who are renting is critical to ensuring victim-survivors can safely leave violence and are supported in navigating the already complex rental system. We have a long way to go in fully realising those protections and rights and stopping violence before it occurs. However, reforms like these are vital elements of domestic violence prevention. The Greens support the bill.
16 September 2025