Building ministers need to maintain momentum on regulation compliance and enforcement
Australia's building ministers must continue the momentum on building regulation compliance and enforcement to deliver better outcomes for property owners and tenants.
It has now been one month since the Building Ministers Forum meeting in Sydney committed to the uniform implementation of the 24 recommendations in the Shergold Weir report on building compliance and enforcement.
"A month ago building ministers agreed to the important step of taking joint action to strengthen compliance and enforcement within the building process, a move that followed 18 months of not enough action," said Ken Morrison, Chief Executive of the Property Council of Australia.
"It's critical that ministers keep the momentum going to ensure the Shergold Weir recommendations are enacted across all states and territories.
"As last night's Four Corners program showed, while Australia's building regulations are very strong, governments do need to do more to ensure these are being complied with and enforced.
"People in the building industry are overwhelmingly doing the right thing, but it is important that those that cut corners are not let off the hook. This is important to deliver better outcomes for owners and tenants as well as strengthen confidence in the industry as a whole," Mr Morrison said.
Mr Morrison said it was important that industry professionals were provided with greater certainty about their roles and accountabilities through uniform and consistent application of building regulations.
"For example, the fundamental role of private certifiers in the construction process needs to be reinforced.
"The Shergold Weir review did not find that private certification was mistake or recommend that it be unwound.
"Instead it found that the key focus needed to be better compliance and enforcement strategies from state and territory governments.
"The report noted that overwhelmingly private certifiers were professionals acting with integrity, and private certification now occurs as part of the vast majority of building approvals processes," Mr Morrison said.
Mr Morrison said industry was now looking to ministers for a clear sense of purpose in delivering on the Shergold Weir recommendations and following up on the commitments given at the BMF meeting last month.
