This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
ALL building practitioners, including designers, architects and engineers will be registered under new legislation proposed by the NSW government in response to Opal and Mascot towers incidents.
Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation Kevin Anderson said the proposal is the first in-depth look at reforming the building and construction industry as part of the Building Stronger Foundations discussion paper.
He said the discussion paper aims to deliver greater transparency, accountability and quality of work in the sector.
“The legislation will implement many of the recommendations from the Lambert and Shergold-Weir reports into the building industry, and now we want to hear from industry and the wider community to help finalise the legislation,” he added.
The NSW Government is implementing four key reforms, including a requirement for buildings to be designed and constructed to plans that fully comply with the Building Code of Australia.
All building practitioners such as building designers, architects and engineers, will be required to be registered to ensure they have the appropriate skills and insurance, and can be held accountable for their actions.
The government will also introduce of a new industry-wide principle of duty of care, enabling home owners to seek compensation if a building practitioner has been negligent.
Finally the government will appoint a building commissioner who will have the power to investigate and take disciplinary action for improper conduct.
The launch of the discussion paper follows the government’s promise to conduct the “the biggest shake-up of the construction industry that New South Wales has ever seen” on the weekend.
Meanwhile the professional indemnity insurance crisis which threatens to stall construction projects across Australia continues.
The only remaining insurance agency to cover cladding, Landmark Underwriting, will no longer provide cover as of 02 July, according to the Australian Institute of Building Surveyors.
The Australian Institute of Building Surveyors president Troy Olds and CEO Brett Mace said the crisis has been caused by significant increases in insurance premiums, unacceptable increases in excesses (some over 500%), along with reduction in cover and the inclusion of non-conforming product and combustible cladding exclusions.
The Master Builders said up to 30% of insurance renewals for building certifiers and surveyors may not be renewed as early as July and construction activity will grind to a halt if a solution is not found urgently.
The Victorian government has indicated it could intervene. Premier Daniel Andrews said the government had become insurer of last resort in the past. Whereas NSW is reportedly looking at following in South Australia’s footsteps by allowing exclusions in PI policies, which is useless as the AIBS argued that this policy does not adequately protect practitioners and consumers.
“Accepting policies with exclusions to enable registration of practitioners is not a long-term workable solution because it leaves practitioners and consumers without appropriate protection.
“AIBS believes that PI policies with NCBP and external cladding exclusions should not be accepted by governments. This further exposes the building surveyor professionally and personally and greatly diminishes consumer protection.
“If there are no insurance policies without cladding exclusions, who is going to undertake the rectification of buildings identified by the respective cladding taskforces across the country or any other building with external cladding?”
The industry is calling for a national solution to the crisis and an end to the partisan political football
“Over the past two weeks, AIBS has received notifications from building surveying firms all over Australia that are facing closure or have already closed because they cannot secure workable PI insurance policies.
“Despite this, our political leaders continue to make the issue into a partisan political football. Federal Minister Karen Andrews has publicly blamed Ministers in the various jurisdictions for the crisis saying it is their responsibility to administer building regulations in their own states and territories. At the same time, the Ministers are saying they had hoped for a national solution and they have limited powers to act. As a result, state and territory governments are developing their own solutions to what should be a uniform national approach.
“The problem is too great to be solved by industry groups alone and governments must step in.
“AIBS is not interested in party politics. We simply want all governments to come together and urgently find a solution for the sake of our profession and for our industry,” they said.
Earlier this week the Australian Property Institute’s CEO Amelia Hodge also called on stakeholders, governments and regulators to come together to resolve the crisis.
“The Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) market in Australia is challenging for a range of professions at present. Our API property professionals are also faced with this challenge,”
Hodge said Australian property professionals across many sectors require the support of an effective, robust PII market in order to practice and to appropriately protect consumers, have to grapple with presently.
“My view always is that the best outcomes are achieved when industry, government, regulators, landholders and their respective key stakeholders come together and work a path forward together. The API is always here to support any initiative that progresses these issues to achieve improved outcomes for all.” Hodge said.
