Government aims to silence tenants by new axing?

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Queensland will have no funded tenant advocate by the end of the year after government cuts seem aimed at silencing tenants.
Funds for the Tenants’ Union of Queensland (TUQ) to engage in  tenancy law and social housing policy debates were been completely cut in last Tuesday’s state budget.   At the same time, the government is launching a review of both tenancy law and social housing entitlements.

In July, the  government provided three months’ notice of funding cessation to the local/regional tenant advice services across the state, and now funding has been withdrawn for all systemic advocacy and representation of tenants’ interests.

The majority of funds for these services come from the interest generated on tenants’ bonds.

Who will represent tenants’ interests around the table when tenancy law debates are being held across the industry?  These debates are facilitated by the Residentail Tenancies Authority, who will have the real estate and propery owners’ interest groups on one side of the room and now vacant seats on the other.

Tenants in Queensland had been hung out to dry.  Shout about it long and shout about it loud because first it was the advice workers, now it is the advocates and soon it will be you, the tenants, with unfavourable changes to the law.

Write to your local member of parliament, the Housing Minister and the Premier and tell them to refund the tenant advice services and the Tenants’ Union of Queensland!  Keep the pressure on.

3 thoughts on “Government aims to silence tenants by new axing?”

  1. Tenants’ Union Qld (TUQ) is the only organisation that sees the world solely from a tenant perspective. To silence the TUQ is to guarantee that the interests and voices of tenants will be ill-defined, misrepresented or simply ignored. An overwhelming majority in a unicameral parliament does not mean you have carte blanche to shutdown voices you think will compete with your interests. Rather it gives you a responsibility in a democracy to do all you can to ensure all voices are heard.

    With a tenancy law review pending we can already see that the interests of landlords and real estate agents will be given a megaphone, while tenants are gagged.

  2. I agree, it is vital that tenants have a voice particularly at this time when their rights and responsibilies are being reviewed. This is clearly a political decision not an economic one to knock out those who support tenants.