NSW LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY - INQUIRY INTO INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ACCOMMODATION
NSW LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY - INQUIRY INTO INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ACCOMMODATION
The above image is from the Newcastle Herald, Saturday 22nd October 2011 edition. Vishnu Vigneswaran (NUSA Faculty of Health Rep and CISA Welfare Officer) is interviewed by the Newspaper and quotes incidents of students living in sub-standard accommodation.
The NSW Legislative Assembly Social Policy Committee is conducting an inquiry into international student accommodation in NSW. The chair is Mr Bruce Notley-Smith MP, member for Coogee.
NUSA has sent a submission, which will appear on the inquiry's website shortly.
On Friday 21st October 2011, there was a public hearing in Sydney. Heather Richards (NUSA President and CISA Vice-president) attended and gave evidence as the CISA vice-president with CISA colleague, Thomson Ch'ng (CISA secretary).
The witnesses in the public hearing called for better legal protection for students who are technically defined as boarders/lodgers and all called for transport concessions to be extended to international students.
The issue of illegal boarding houses was touched upon with representatives from Sydney Councils saying that they need more power to investigate premises. In particular, council's need to be able to investigate possible over-crowding, fire safety compliance and health and safety issues.
The tenants Union NSW strongly advocated NSW introduce occupancy laws similar to ACT, a move support by the spokesperson from NSW Fair Trading.
In Newcastle
Heather and Veronica have met with the University to discuss the off-campus accommodation issues. We are continuing to meet the University to come up with a proposal to better educate students. In particular, students face the following problems:
- Bond is not lodged with NSW Office of Fair Trading (if the student is technically a boarder/lodger then this is not necessary)
- Repairs are not made on share-house accommodation.
- Students are evicted without proper notice (if the student is technically a boarder/lodver then they may be evicted within a "reasonable" time frame)
- Students lose their bond deposits because they were never lodged with Fair Trading and there is no record of them.
- Landlords attempt to charge students for damage, when actually the damage comes under insurance.
If you have a problem with your accommodation or landlord and are concerned, you can contact us, the University or the Hunter Tenancy Advice and Advocacy Service.
This article will be updated, so watch this space!
This people worked on this:
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| Heather Richards | Veronica Meneses |
| This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
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