NSW Labor is promising to tighten data rules for real estate agents to better protect rental tenants if they win government as the Liberals try to firm up their regional vote.
There is little regulation about how data is stored and protected when renters hand over their driver’s licence details, work and address history along with their bank statements, Labor says.
While the information gathered by real estate agents is necessary, it should be better protected from data breaches.
The party would also review the role of NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal in rental disputes, and provide an additional $1 million funding for tenant advocacy services.
Labor leader Chris Minns said the rental market is stacked against tenants.
“Anyone who rents in Sydney knows just how anxious and challenging a process it can be to find suitable accommodation, never mind the fear of having your data breached,” he said on Tuesday.
“These are sensible changes which will help give renters the peace of mind they need.”
Meanwhile, high-profile independent candidate Troy Stolz who is taking on Mr Minns in his ultra marginal seat of Kogarah, is challenging the Labor leader to come and talk to a gambling victim about his reticence to introduce mandatory cashless gaming.
The gambling whistleblower candidate will be at a pre-polling booth in Hurstville on Tuesday with reform advocate Kate Seselja who has lost $500,000 because of her previous pokie addiction.
“Mr Minns wants to be the next premier … however, he has been sorely lacking on this issue and I’d encourage him to come and hear first-hand from Kate about why change is so urgently needed,” Mr Stolz said.
On the Liberal campaign trail Premier Dominic Perrottet will visit the key seat of Goulburn as fed-up school cleaners demand a meeting with him outside government offices in Sydney’s CBD.
United Workers Union property services co-ordinator Linda Revill said by outsourcing the contracts of school cleaners, Mr Perrottet had essentially washed his hands of the group.
“The responsibility to keep workers safe has been completely, and disastrously, outsourced by the NSW government,” Ms Revill said.
Data from the government’s compensation scheme iCare shows premiums for public school cleaners exceed those applied to more than 500 other careers, suggesting the third-highest injury rate for any profession.
“They are among the lowest paid workers in NSW yet they face some of the greatest risks in NSW – in schools where you would expect students, teachers and cleaners could be safe,” Ms Revill said.
“The result for students, teachers and school communities is that their schools are not being cleaned properly, and stressed out school cleaners are being injured as they are pressured to do 650 tasks a day.”
NSW Labor has agreed to review the system if elected.
