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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 02 Hansard (Thursday, 4 March 2004) . . Page.. 809 ..

I am disappointed that the in-principle debate has been caught up so much with whether or not we should be having this debate at all. I would like to return to what these bills are trying to do. It is fair to say that the building industry is one that is often maligned. These bills will, I believe, restore public confidence in the industry. New complaints disciplinarian enforcement procedures, as well as advertising requirements, will lead to more informed and better choices for consumers.

The bills overhaul the regulation of the building industry and bring the rules covering builders, building surveyors, drainers, electricians, gasfitters, plumbers and plumbing plan certifiers into one place. There is further regulation of the operation of nominees within the construction industry. The legislation sets out clear penalties for breaches of the act and the legislative rectification process.

A Construction Occupations Registrar will be established and will have a range of disciplinary and enforcement powers at their disposal, many of which are new initiatives. The Construction Occupations (Licensing) Bill maintains the current levels of qualification as a condition of entry to the relevant occupations. There will be better enforcement proceedings against licensees who work without following approved standards and there will be clear penalties for licensees who advertise their business without providing their licence number or, in the case or corporations, their ACN.

There is a demerit point system proposed for a range of construction work offences which will operate similar to drivers licence demerits. Each construction occupation will have an advisory board set up within six months of completion of debate on the legislation. These advisory boards will help not only to develop and maintain codes of practice for the respective occupations but also with investigations and disciplinary hearings as well as provide advice to the registrar of qualifications.

The main point about these bills is that they make the operation of the building industry better than it is at the moment. There are many amendments that have come out of discussions with the Assembly and with industry that will make the bill even better. I would just like to foreshadow some of the amendments and give my opinion on a few of them. I thank the government for moving a suite of amendments, particularly in relation to clauses 42, 79 and 82 of the Construction Occupations (Licensing) Bill, and to clause 145 of the Building Bill, which came out of discussions with my office. These amendments address some inconsistencies within the legislation and impose a possible jail term on strict liability offences, something the Scrutiny of Bills Committee has repeatedly said is undesirable and something that I have also said many times is undesirable. We need to watch what we do with strict liability offences within our legislation.

I will also be moving amendments to clause 80 to replace the 220 units with 50 penalty units. This brings penalties in clause 80 into line with the majority of other penalties in this area. It drops the penalty from 250 units for advertising without a licence. This is a much more realistic penalty. It also removes the anomaly of a penalty for advertising without a licence being greater than that for working without a licence. I also note that the Greens are proposing amendments for the introduction of guidelines for the use of sustainable building materials and to make the Construction Occupations Registrar

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