Page 745 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 8 April 2014
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partnerships; any interim licence suspensions; any automatic suspensions, including for insolvency or loss of insurance; any details of disciplinary action taken by the Construction Occupations Registrar; any details of occupational discipline orders made by the ACAT; actions taken by the registrar as a result of the licensee incurring demerit points; previous suspensions and cancellations; occupational discipline and disciplinary action in the previous 10 years, whether in effect or not; and rectification orders and contraventions of rectification orders.
These are serious matters for a construction occupation professional. Good builders should not find themselves in circumstances where they have these types of details on their licence. Poorly performing builders will, and poorly performing builders and their occupational discipline history should be made available to consumers. That is the purpose of this bill.
It is the case that builders have rights to review, but suspensions or interim disciplinary matters are notated on a licence now, and why shouldn’t the public be aware of what is on that licence? Yes, builders can go and seek review of matters in the ACAT, but there is an immediate consumer protection obligation that, in the government’s mind, overrides that provision for review because occupational discipline is not taken lightly and breaches of the Building Act are serious matters that warrant immediate action by the registrar. The law provides for that immediate action. Why shouldn’t the public be aware of that action?
That is the bottom line here. The government is interested in the protection of consumers, not in the protection of dodgy builders. And that is what this proposal by Mr Coe would seem to be all about. I will make some further comments about Mr Coe’s amendments in more detail during the detail stage of the debate.
This bill is an important one. It is part of what has now been three bills that the government has brought to the Assembly just this year focused on improving building quality and tackling poor performance in the building industry.
The government is also proposing amendments during the detail stage. Those amendments are procedural and technical in nature and reflect the fact that amendments were made to the legislation proposed in relation to these amendments at an earlier sitting.
I thank members overall for their support of this bill but reiterate that the protection of the consumer is a matter of significant interest and public concern in the community right now. This bill is about addressing that issue. This bill is about making sure consumers are able to look at the past and current history of a builder or other construction occupation professional that they intend to engage. We want to make sure that there is appropriate disclosure in relation to those matters. The government will not agree to amendments that diminish or take away from the consumer’s right to know. I commend the bill to the Assembly.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
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