Amendments no longer require regulator’s board chair to be a lawyer
Nicole McKee, associate justice minister, announced that the Regulatory Systems (Occupational Regulation) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Tribunals) Amendment Bill, two of the three bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package, have both recently passed their final reading in Parliament.
In a news release, the government explained that the new laws amend eight different legislative acts.
First, McKee noted that the Regulatory Systems (Occupational Regulation) Amendment Bill, which amended the Real Estate Agents Act 2008, removed the “disproportionately harsh” five-year mandatory disqualification for real estate agents failing to fulfill their continuing professional development (CPD) requirements or timely pay fees, a penalty preventing real estate agents from earning a living.
“No other regulated profession has such a harsh penalty for failing to complete CPD,” she said.
McKee clarified with the Real Estate Authority (REA) that CPD requirements should be pertinent to the role of real estate agents. She added that the Regulatory Systems (Occupational Regulation) Amendment Bill aims to:
Second, regarding the Regulatory Systems (Tribunals) Amendment Bill, she explained that it sought to enable the Disputes Tribunal to order respondents to pay filing fees to successful claimants and to make the justice system fairer, among other changes.
“People who have been wronged should not be left carrying unnecessary costs simply because they had to pursue justice,” McKee said in the government’s news release.
Third, McKee acknowledged the Regulatory Systems (Courts) Amendment Bill’s referral back to the Justice Committee for the consideration of an amendment paper that included six further policy adjustments seeking to make the court system more effective and efficient.
REA welcomed the passage of the Regulatory Systems (Occupational Regulation) Amendment Bill, which updated the regulatory regime for licensed real estate professionals and supported REA’s role as the real estate profession’s regulator and as a consumer protection agency.
“It strengthens REA’s ability to protect consumers, whilst also improving the efficiency of the system we oversee and relieving some of the constraints and compliance burdens, including by making the regulatory scope proportionate to the risk,” said Belinda Moffat, REA’s chief executive, in a media release.
REA acknowledged amendments to:
“One of the amendments will enable REA to require a person to provide documents to REA where we have reasonable grounds to believe that someone is unlicensed and carrying out real estate agency work or has contravened the Act, or associated regulations or practice rules,” Moffat said. “This will assist REA to better assess consumer complaints and investigate unlicensed trading concerns.”
