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Will real estate see any of the $2.4 billion benefit predicted from the reform that will see state-based licensees able to work across borders? The Real Estate Institute of Australia isn’t sure.
Last week, REB reported on the federal Treasurer’s touting of a $2.4 billion boost to the economy over the next 10 years that would be achieved through automatic mutual recognition of the state and territory occupational licences of real estate agents, among other workers.
According to Josh Frydenberg, who has cited modelling by PwC, more than 124,000 workers currently operating across state and territory borders will benefit, with an additional 44,000 workers expected to begin working across borders in response to the reform.
The Mutual Recognition Bill, which is currently in the lower house of Federal Parliament, expects the reform “could lead to additional economic activity of around $2.4 billion over 10 years as a result of savings to workers and businesses, productivity improvements and extra surge capacity in response to natural disasters.
REIA president Adrian Kelly expressed concerns around how these figures would apply to Australia’s real estate sector, with the organisation also querying how automatic mutual recognition (AMR) would actually grow productivity and reduce red tape within real estate.
“While we have welcomed the ability for states to exempt licensed occupations on the grounds of significant consumer risk, we believe real estate agents should be exempt from the Mutual Recognition Bill until such a time there is a single and leading practise set of regulatory standards governing the licensing of the sector,” Mr Kelly considered.
He argues that “the minimum standard should be a Diploma of Property Services for a business owner and a full Certificate IV for associates or equivalents as well as demonstrated knowledge of state and territory consumer protection laws and continued professional development”.
He also expressed concerns that the draft bill does not address the industry’s historical concerns raised about the need for alignment of consumer protection laws from previous commissions – held back in 2013 and 2015.
Mr Kelly pointed to current residential tenancy reviews taking place across the nation as a way that real estate is working towards improving consumer protection and standards.
“It is unclear why, at the same time, unnecessary deregulation should come in and conflate and undermine existing standards.”
He also argued that the absence of the development of a Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) means the REIA has formed the view that the reform approach “does not meet the very high standards set by Australia’s Office of Best Practise Regulation in terms of clearly identifying what is the policy problem to be solved”.
“We have presented a body of evidence to the federal government outlining the significant consumer risk for the sales and property management side of the property sector,” the president stated, before adding that the REIA has been working “constructively” with the government on issues of occupational mobility.
“REIA has been extremely clear we do not wish to obstruct other occupational licences in achieving additional mobility and helping with recovery efforts for floods and fires but that cannot be at the cost of real estate customers and agents,” he concluded.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grace Ormsby
Grace is a journalist across Momentum property and investment brands. Grace joined Momentum Media in 2018, bringing with her a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) from the University of Newcastle. She’s passionate about delivering easy to digest information and content relevant to her key audiences and stakeholders.
