A former NRL star has been left puzzled by a question on a rental application amid Australia’s housing crisis.
Casey Conway, a proud Indigenous man and activist for the LGBTI community, had been applying for a property when he came across the baffling query.
The online form asked if ‘any applicants identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander’ with Conway taking to social media to demand why.
‘Why am I being asked this question on a rental application,’ Conway asked on Twitter, with many users suggesting it was ‘unnecessary’ and ‘irrelevant’.
The online form (pictured) asked if any applicants ‘identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander’ with Mundine quickly taking to social media to share his confusion
After Conway’s original tweet received over 200,000 views, the sportsman-turned-model took to Twitter to slam the ‘racists’ in his comments
‘It’s outrageous how invasive the questions are on these applications – appalling,’ one user commented.
‘This must, and I mean MUST be removed from the assessment application,’ another said.
‘There is no reason for this question to be asked. It is illegal to ask. It should not be answered, and they should be called out on it,’ a third said.
‘Some of the responses here are similarly prejudiced and as inappropriate as the question on the form.’
After his original tweet went viral, the sportsman-turned-model was forced to address the ‘racists’ in the comments.
‘All these racists hiding behind profiles with no names or pics, probably thinking they’re hurting my feelings, are really giving small budoo energy,’ he said,
‘Cowards that don’t like themselves.’
The form was hosted on a website called Snug, which works as an intermediary between renters and real estate agents.
Soaring rents and a lack of properties to lease have become a crisis across Australia in the last 12 months (pictured, lines to inspect a rental property in Sydney last year)
Snug gives renters a score based on their profile and matches them to eligible properties, with tenants receiving a higher score if they offer to pay more rent.
Renters apply by completing a profile, which includes data such as legal identification, references and pay slips.
Tenants can also submit bank statements and background checks if they wish.
In many Australian states, real estate agents and landlords aren’t allowed to ask renters about their race, sexual orientation, age, disability, gender identity, marital status, children, or religion.
In Tasmania, renters are not required to disclose their criminal record, while in Victoria, a tenant’s profession is also protected as well as their criminal record.
Nationally, rents rose 6.7 per cent to a median of $495 per week in 2022, but the issue was much worse in capital cities (pictured, for sale signs in Gosford, NSW)
It comes as soaring rents and a lack of properties to lease have become a crisis across Australia in the last 12 months.
Nationally, rents rose 6.7 per cent to a median of $495 per week in 2022, but the issue was much worse in capital cities.
In cities such as Melbourne and Sydney, higher post-Covid demand for fewer properties saw unit rents up by 9.3 per cent, while houses went up 8.3 per cent.
Renting has become a key issue in the coming NSW state election, with the Opposition Labor party saying it will create a Rental Commissioner to advocate for renters and boost rental supply in the regions if it wins power.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Snug for comment.