Page 976 - Week 03 - Thursday, 21 March 2019
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minimum sufficient information to include in building approval applications is well underway. I expect to announce them in the coming weeks. Targeted consultation on codes of practice for builders and building surveyors will start in May. There will also be new training for building surveyors and a pre-licence assessment for applicants for a building surveyor licence.
Further improvements to licensing processes will be made, including requiring additional information from people who will be appointed as nominees for corporate and partnership licences. Nominees play a very important role in supervising construction work, and they need to be fully aware of their obligations and rights when they take on the role. We are also working to make contracts for building work or off-the-plan buildings clearer and fairer to purchasers. These steps will make clear the roles, expectations, rights and obligations for different parties and lift skills and knowledge in the industry.
Madam Speaker, we are on track to have 28 of the 43 reforms from the building regulatory review completed by the end of this current financial year, as we have undertaken to do. The next tranches of reforms will include: a new auditing system for building projects; new dispute resolution processes; and finalising work on reviewing security of payments issues and consultation on potential changes to that system.
We will also consult further on licensing and accountability measures for people designing and building, as well as people contracting for off-the-plan sales. Consultation will also seek views on insurance and other protections for clients and building owners. Madam Speaker, recent court and tribunal decisions on building matters here in the ACT, and in other parts of the country, confirm that people designing and constructing buildings must be held accountable to do their work with due diligence and proper skill and ensure compliance with building laws.
While there are improvements we can make and are making to the law, the Building Act already includes distinct obligations for doing, supervising and certifying building work. However, reform is about not only new law but also ensuring that we have the best ways of ensuring compliance with and enforcement of the laws that we already have.
I want to acknowledge that we know there are people who saw problems in their industry, and even made mistakes of their own, and responded with integrity. They took steps to improve their skills, knowledge and management of projects to make sure that the problems they saw did not happen on their projects, or they helped others to improve by sharing their own expertise. Unfortunately, others have not responded. But I think our message has been clear: substandard work is not acceptable.
Madam Speaker, I have to stress that while regulation and enforcement are important, government inspectors are not responsible for supervising and quality assuring the work of every practitioner and every building project. Licensees take on clear responsibilities under the law, and they need to take ownership in meeting these.
Having said that, government building inspectors undertake compliance audits on residential buildings and non-residential buildings regularly. Access Canberra have
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