Page 1840 - Week 05 - Thursday, 6 May 2010
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MR BARR (Molonglo—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Planning, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation and Minister for Gaming and Racing) (10.17): I move:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
Mr Speaker, I present the Construction Occupations Legislation (Exemption Assessment) Amendment Bill 2010. This legislation continues reforms delivered earlier this year that provided industry and the community with a more effective process to unit title a development. The second stage of these reforms will introduce a new, but not mandatory, option for persons to apply for an “exemption assessment notice”. This option provides the homeowner with a way of knowing their development is lawfully exempt development. The construction occupation licensing legislation plays an important role in delivering these reforms.
In 2004, the government introduced the Construction Occupations (Licensing) Act or COLA. By interacting with other appropriate legislation, COLA established a framework to provide more effective regulation of the construction industry in the ACT. With proposed amendments, the Planning and Development Act will become an operational act and will provide the mechanism for a licensed person to be able to issue an exemption assessment notice for development under the act.
The newly created construction occupation of works assessor will be expanded. This means that a licensed works assessor can not only do unit title assessment work but also provide a notice that indicates a development is exempt from needing development approval.
The bill goes further in that it also expands the types of work a building surveyor can do. If passed, this bill will not only see surveyors providing exemption assessment notices under the Planning and Development Act but will also provide a totally new capacity to issue exemption assessment notices under the Building Act.
This bill is another example of a practical response to one of the issues raised through the Industry Monitoring Group. This bill introduces an exemption assessment certification service that, while not mandatory, will provide peace of mind to the community and a new business opportunity for industry.
COLA part 1 dealt with unit title reforms and was made in February this year. It inserted the construction occupation of works assessor. This bill seeks to expand that definition to include the work necessary to do an exemption assessment notice. In recent years the range and types of things that can be exempt from needing development approval and/or building approval has expanded.
The exemption now includes such things as a single dwelling, as long as it complies with the single dwelling housing development code in the territory plan. At the moment, a person can determine for themselves whether what they intend to build meets the exemption criteria. If the construction needs building approval but not development approval, the building certifier will confirm the “self-assessment” as part of the building approval application process.
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