Page 1764 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 15 May 2019
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National Construction Code sets out the minimum necessary requirements for safety, health amenity, accessibility and sustainability in design, construction and performance. Among other things, its prescriptions cover multi-residential, houses, commercial, public buildings and structures, including plumbing and drainage. These things are very important to all of us.
The NCC is relied upon by architects, builders, plumbers, building certifiers, surveyors and engineers. It is pretty well a fundamental ingredient and assurance for construction quality and the consumers’ confidence in the structural resilience of a building and also its performance and fit-for-purpose factors. It is pretty important that all stakeholders in the construction game, including those who commission or purchase a building, are confident that their purchase is compliant with the National Construction Code and buildings codes enshrined in territory legislation.
It is not a trivial matter. This government’s development visions are resplendent with plans for many thousands of new apartments and houses—I am paying a compliment here—and these will be augmented with additional thousands of commercial and public structures. There is a bit going on. The application of outdated construction codes and the impact of delays while the codes are brought up to date could have enormous impacts on the costs and quality of building construction, including for private and public housing.
I note that, in the discussion where we were halfway between changing the dates on this, the minister said that builders who had cross-state and territory-aligned work could chose to adopt the national code; they did not have to wait for it to be implemented in the ACT. But we do not think that that is the way to go about things. In the interests of effective governance, we would expect the Minister for Building Quality Improvement to stay on top of these updates.
According to reports, the most recent update required by the Australian Building Codes Board was made available last February and put online in the following month for a 1 May implementation date. The NCC website indicates the latest round of updates were adopted by all states and the Northern Territory on 1 May, with the ACT to adopt these on 1 June.
I know that when the minister brings his amendments forward he will have a different view there. The Minister for Building Quality Improvement originally told industry that the ACT would take these up by 1 September because the building industry apparently said it needed more time to understand and absorb the changes. I am not sure if that is what they did say. It was reported that the minister’s decision to defer was made on 29 April, two days before the updates were to be implemented. It is not a good look, is it?
It then transpired that not all the industry sector representatives had been consulted. In fact, most were prepared and able to adopt the changes. This compelled the minister to commission an urgent review of the advice that led to the deferral decision and in turn led to some frantic consultations with industry over the weekend of 4 and 5 May. These consultations produced a more fulsome perspective of industry’s capacity to
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