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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 02 Hansard (Thursday, 4 March 2004) . . Page.. 810 ..

provide annual reports. They are simple but quite significant amendments and are supportable.

The suite of bills before us will not only make the building industry better but also, I believe, allow the community to have greater confidence in the building industry. There are some concerns that need to be sorted through, but I think we need to keep in mind the fundamental principle that we are trying to work with the building industry and to make that industry the best industry that we can here in the territory.

MR CORBELL (Minister for Health and Minister for Planning) (6.53), in reply: Before I speak about the significant improvements to the construction occupation licensing system that these bills—the Building Bill 2003, the Construction Occupations (Licensing) Bill 2003 and the Construction Occupations Legislation Amendment Bill 2003—will deliver, I think it is worth while just briefly reminding Assembly members of the process that has been undertaken to date in the development of these reforms. I also thank those members who have taken the time to carefully consider this legislative package and who have sensibly provided their support. I thank them for that.

In June last year, I tabled in the Assembly an exposure draft of the Construction Occupations (Licensing) Bill. As the debate on the need for reform to our licensing system has been under way for a number of years, and indeed has stretched over two governments, I thought it was important that, given the size of the reforms, there was an opportunity for community and industry involvement. An industry briefing was held prior to the commencement of the six-week community consultation period following the tabling of the exposure draft, which commenced on 1 July last year. Individual letters were sent to each licensee, of which there were more than 5,000, inviting them to attend one of the many information sessions that were held on the reform proposals. In addition to that, nine fact sheets were produced that covered the major elements of the reform package. These were made available on the ACTPLA website, at the ACTPLA customer services centre and at information sessions.

I wrote to all Assembly members on 7 July last year, offering a briefing on the proposed reforms. I note with surprise that the offer was not taken up at that time by a single Assembly member. Following the community consultation period, further discussions were held with industry groups regarding a range of issues. A response to the 11 submissions received, which addressed each of the 150-plus issues, was sent to each person who made a submission. Copies of the consultation outcomes were also made available at the ACTPLA customer services centre. Consultation continued with industry groups through to the finalisation of the licensing bill.

In regard to the Building Bill, the decision to rewrite the Building Act 1972 was made shortly after the exposure draft consultation period began. Once that decision was made, the relevant industry groups were informed and had a number of meetings with project officers to consider the detail of the changes. Members will recall that these bills were tabled in November 2003. Once these bills were tabled, I again offered Assembly members the opportunity to be briefed on the details of the reforms. I thank Ms Dundas, Ms Tucker and Mrs Cross for taking the opportunity to inform themselves on the detail of the package.

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