In the drastic decision to disband the Department of Communities, Housing Tasmania will become a statutory authority.
In the process of creating the statutory authority, the Government must pass legislation which will establish the new authority. The process is currently at the public consultation phase after the draft Housing Tasmania Bill 2022 was released last week.
During the public consultation phase, we are calling on members to send their thoughts through to the CPSU in order to submit a response on behalf of workers.
From an initial look over the draft Bill, the CPSU would like to highlight the following:
- Future funding arrangements are unclear with the authority being self-funded. Presumably this means it will need to fund operations from rental income and borrowings against titles
- The Bill clarifies that Housing Tasmania employees will be employed under the State Service Act 2000.
- The process for selection and recruitment of the board remains ambiguous.
- The Minister will have the power to give the Housing Tasmania Board directions at any time; however, the Minister must consult with the board before doing so.
- The draft Bill allows for Housing Tasmania to sell land that is not immediately required for the purpose of satisfying the Act
- The new authority will be responsible for everything Housing Tasmania is currently responsible for – including homelessness
- The draft Bill insinuates that Housing Tasmania may become responsible for managing residential premises on behalf of other government agencies. We presume this would be such things as Police housing and teacher housing. This alone is a whole new responsibility of the authority.
If you would like your thoughts to be included in the CPSU submission, please email nmetcalfe@tas.cpsu.com.au by close of business July 1 2022.
