State government urged to rush through Airbnb crackdown after Hawthorn East home trashed
AS police investigate another weekend rampage that caused $400,000 worth of damage, the question everyone’s asking is why new Airbnb party crackdown still have not passed through Parliament two years on?
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NEW laws to crack down on wild Airbnb parties and compensate angry neighbours are stalled in Parliament even as police investigate a weekend rampage by 50 youths that caused $400,000 damage.
Police and the state Opposition are demanding urgent changes to deal with trouble in short-stay accommodation, more than two years after the state government promised to “stamp out bad behaviour”.
In the latest out-of-control house party, dozens of youths of African appearance terrorised a Hawthorn East street, smashing up a $3 million Airbnb property and bashing an elderly man.
HOMES RAIDED AFTER WILD AIRBNB PARTY
A woman was also assaulted.
Investigating police raided properties in Melbourne’s southeast and interviewed several people on Monday.
In May 2016, the government announced new laws relating to short-stay apartments, promising $1100 fines for guests who were noisy or damaged property and $2000 compensation for neighbours. Apartments regularly used for wild parties would also be black-listed.
But the legislation is still languishing in the Legislative Council.
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy criticised the delay and said the government needed to “urgently bring in laws to protect these innocent homeowners and their neighbours”.
He said the Coalition supported expanding the crackdown to protect the owners of Airbnb homes, as well as apartments, and flagged “tougher minimum sentences” for those who trashed short-stay rentals.
Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt, also suggesting that the laws could go further, said: “Unless laws are changed that would enable police to identify the lessee, or revoke a person’s right to remain at a property, these will remain a complicated matters for police to deal with.”
John, 74, who was attacked in Hawthorn East early on Sunday morning, questioned why police did not intervene sooner, saying neighbours “were complaining all night”.
Victoria Police said short-term rentals “added another dimension to our policing” which the force was “still working through”.
A government spokeswoman said there was “zero tolerance for this kind of behaviour”.
She said police could enter properties where “actual harm to persons or property has occurred or was reasonably anticipated to occur”, and that the government would continue giving Victoria Police “the powers and resources they need”.
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