Ahead of the Queensland state election tomorrow, the Real Estate Institute of Queensland has called on whoever wins the election to commit to raising the bar on the educational standards and requirements to gain entry to the real estate profession, and compulsory professional development for real estate practitioners.

REIQ CEO Antonia Mercorella said the organisation wants CPD linked to the renewal of real estate registration certificates and licences, saying it will deliver real benefits to consumers. REIQ has long been an advocate for mandatory CPD. “In today’s complex legislative landscape and highly litigious society, it’s naive to assume that initial training to obtain a licence or registration will suffice without further ongoing training," said Mercorella. “We support the introduction of a statutory CPD requirement for licence and registration renewal as part of an effort to enhance consumer protection. This will ensure consumers are only dealing with real estate practitioners who have up to date knowledge of legislative and industry changes. It’s now up to the state’s political leaders to legislate on behalf of consumers to make this important reform a reality.”

REIQ-accredited agencies have to undertake CPD to maintain their membership, and REIQ believes the time has come for this requirement to be extended more widely in the profession. Mercorella said the Queensland real estate profession handled transactions worth billions each year, making it crucial to the success of the overall state economy. She said keeping up to date with rapidly changing laws and requirements was critical from a consumer protection and risk management perspective.

REIQ would also like to work with the state’s lawmakers to develop more appropriate educational standards and requirements to gain entry to the profession. “The current entry levels are too low and the bar needs to be set higher,” said Mercorella. “Now that a national licensing regime is no longer on the agenda, there needs to be a greater focus from Queensland’s lawmakers on this important issue.”