Page 910 - Week 03 - Thursday, 30 March 2006
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The omission of references to certain repealed laws was an oversight at the time the new regime was created and it is necessary to ensure that licensees are held responsible for work they conducted under the old legislation, which was in operation a little over 18 months ago. Not to do so would create a loophole. This will further strengthen the ability of COLA to protect consumers and ensure the safety of building and construction work in the ACT.
The bill makes a number of amendments to the area of plumbing under the Water and Sewerage Act 2000 and, significantly, the bill will recognise the plumbing code of Australia. The plumbing code is similar to the building code of Australia and will become a national document recognised by all jurisdictions and will recognise a consistent set of plumbing standards across Australia. Currently recognised by South Australia and Queensland, the document is in the process of being recognised by other states and is a step towards the COAG objectives of achieving a consistent set of building industry standards across Australia.
The bill will also amend the Construction Occupations (Licensing) Regulation 2004 to create a new construction occupation class of irrigation class plumber and will make minor amendments to clarify the types of work that constitute plumbing for the purposes of the act and to achieve consistency in the technology used. Industry has been seeking a licence system for large-scale irrigation works to reduce consumer costs for that kind of work.
The bill addresses inconsistencies in the way that the act currently applies to partnerships and individual licensees. This further strengthens the consumer protection that is already offered by COLA with regard to licensing arrangements for entities and individuals.
The COLA package introduced a number of consumer protection provisions to ensure that those members of the community offering these types of services are adequately licensed and consequently adequately skilled to undertake the work and subject to an appropriate regulatory and disciplinary regime. These consumer protection provisions relate, for example, to the advertising of certain construction services and create offences for offering such services while not licensed.
Since the introduction of COLA, the ACT Planning and Land Authority has successfully undertaken efforts to identify people offering construction services who advertise without providing licence details, some of whom are not adequately licensed. The authority has been able to take steps to deal with such people under the legislation, offering protection to unsuspecting consumers. The provisions of this bill will further enable the authority to ensure that consumers are properly protected.
The bill also makes other consequential amendments and minor wording changes to achieve consistency throughout legislation. Again, I thank members for their support and commend the bill to the Assembly.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
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