Page 3018 - Week 08 - Thursday, 15 August 2019
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than his predecessor, Mr Gentleman. Under Mr Ramsay’s watch we have seen some genuine movement.
What I question is the minister’s understanding of the industry and his understanding of the problems. I feel that many of the new measures that have been put in place to protect the community from the five per cent will impede the 95 per cent. Many of the new measures put in place in the name of improving building quality will add a brand new layer of compliance and red tape which is being passed on to the construction industry. And of course that will in turn be passed on to the consumer at a time when housing unaffordability is this government’s middle name.
In many of his ministerial roles—and I think we have just witnessed one of the classic examples in response to the dorothy dixer on changes in the club industry—Mr Ramsay has demonstrated an inability to genuinely engage with stakeholders but moreover an inability to listen to those at the coalface. I think we are seeing, with a number of the measures that are being introduced, that the so-called solution does not actually quite fit the problem and will potentially create greater unintended problems.
I understand that there is enormous political pressure in this space and there is a pressure on the minister to act—and all power to him for acting—but I am worried that some of these measures will not hit the target. When you go to conduct for surveyors and certifiers as the case in point, my genuine fear is that this new code of conduct, combined with the insurance crisis which is facing that industry, may well force a significant number of those in this line of work to simply stop offering those services in this space. And I do not know where we go to after that. They are small in number at this stage anyway. If those services are not available it brings a number of things in the construction industry to a grinding halt.
What I see time and time again from Mr Ramsay is his inability to accept that if we are to genuinely improve things the industry must be a major part of the solution. Indeed, at the end of the day they have to be the biggest part. The naysayers would say that the industry has not been a part of the solution until now but I think they would be wrong. The industry has, through its individual players and through its umbrella organisations, lifted its game in many areas. But of course, as is so often the case in pretty much any pursuit, you are very rarely remembered for the 90 per cent or 95 per cent that you are doing right. You are usually remembered for the five per cent that you are doing wrong.
In regard to the actual increase in expenditure in this space, I genuinely applaud the government for stepping up to the plate but what I would say is that it is far too little far too late, that so much of the new spending and new initiatives are destined to fail in regard to the desired outcomes because this minister seems determined to fight against the industry rather than fight arm and arm with it.
MS BERRY (Ginninderra—Deputy Chief Minister, Minister for Education and Early Childhood Development, Minister for Housing and Suburban Development, Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Minister for Sport and Recreation and Minister for Women) (3.12): I speak on this line item in my portfolio responsibilities as Minister for Sport and Recreation. The government is continuing its
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