Page 3616 - Week 10 - Thursday, 19 September 2019
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I thank the minister for seniors for his statement. We need a broad, society-wide response to this. A lot of this is the responsibility of the federal government, but there are things we can do. I look forward to this being an issue that we all take note of in the Assembly.
MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (10.44): I also thank the Minister for Seniors and Veterans for this ministerial statement about the need to protect older Canberrans from abuse. Indeed, back in June on World Elder Abuse Awareness Day I called on the minister and the government to take more action to combat the abuse of older Canberrans. There is tripartisan support for this in our Assembly. We all recognise that older Canberrans deserve our support, respect, and protection from abuse.
In many cases older people may not even categorise the circumstances in which they find themselves as abuse, so the educative process is very important. Providing a number of different pathways for people to seek assistance in various ways from various agencies and organisations is also really important. I know from my discussions with the minister that he is deeply committed to this as well.
This is such an important area. These are people who have contributed to our society over decades and decades and they deserve to spend their later years with dignity and respect free from financial, emotional or physical abuse. Elder abuse takes many different forms and the fact that it is often at the hands of people they know is something many of us find deeply distressing. I know we will do all we can to do more to address the issue of elder abuse.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Building regulatory reforms—update
Ministerial statement
MR RAMSAY (Ginninderra—Attorney-General, Minister for the Arts, Creative Industries and Cultural Events, Minister for Building Quality Improvement, Minister for Business and Regulatory Services and Minister for Seniors and Veterans) (10.46): I am very pleased to update the Assembly on the building regulatory reforms and other work to improve the practices in the building industry and compliance with the building standards. As we promised, we completed a further 15 reforms by the end of last financial year, and these reforms include a new minimum documentation and information guideline for building approval applications for new and substantially altered apartment and commercial buildings. The guideline applies to all new applications for a building approval that are made after 1 September this year.
The new code of practice for building surveyors also started on 1 September 2019. These two documents work together. They outline the obligations of applicants and people designing buildings to provide sufficient information and they also detail the obligations of building certifiers to make sure that all the required technical information is provided to assess whether the building can comply with building standards. The code of practice also clarifies the expectations for minimum standards of practice for licensable work, including the general obligation to act in the public interest and specific requirements in relation to stage inspections. These are
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