Dear Local Member / Premier

I’m writing to ask if you to support the continuation of Tenant Advice and Advocacy Services (TAAS) in your community.

On May 23 the Commonwealth Government made an offer to the Queensland Government for an additional 6 months’ worth of funding (or $2.5 million) for TAAS services in the state. In return the state government needs to negotiate a long term option for TAAS funding. If accepted, the Queensland government will have saved 14 months’ worth of funding when they need to reapply a small percentage of tenant bond interest to fund these services.

Without the support of the State government, these community-based services will close after June this year. Regional services across the state will be lost and tenants everywhere will no longer have access to specialist services.

While Housing Minister, Tim Mander, has stated that the Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA) and Community Legal Centres (CLCs) can pick up the “slack” with the closure of the TAAS, this is simply not true. The RTA is an impartial government authority located in the Brisbane CBD. It neither represents tenants nor advocates on their behalf. CLCs already have a large unmet demand and are not in a position to provide advice to an additional 500,000 renting households statewide.

Please let me know what your position is on this matter at your earliest possible convenience. I also ask that you raise this important matter with the Premier to seek his support.

Yours sincerely