The timing of yesterday's announcement of a crackdown on building certifiers by Minister Matt Kean is questionable and a shameful mis-use of the Opal Tower situation to suit a grandstanding agenda.
Minister Kean's attacks on building surveyors, or certifiers as they are known in NSW, will do nothing whatsoever to help affected residents who have been forced from their homes, nor facilitate a faster result of the investigation now underway into the cause of cracks in a pre-cast concrete panel in the building.
The Minister is using the Opal Tower scenario to grandstand and appear to be doing something useful when nothing he has announced so far will protect the public of NSW or address the systemic issues in the building industry. If the Minister really wants to achieve better consumer protection, this is not the way to go about it.
The Australian Institute of Building Surveyors (AIBS) fully supports measures that will protect building owners and the general public. Certifiers who do not do the right thing should be identified and disciplined because they tarnish the reputation of the majority of certifiers who take their statutory role of consumer protection and public safety seriously and act with professionalism.
However, the NSW Government already has the means available to do this through the Building Professionals Board. The so-called new measures announced by the Minister already exist but have not been effectively implemented over the past 20 years. In addition, the Minister fails to acknowledge that NSW legislation specifically requires the building owner to engage the certifier directly.
The Minister's proposed solutions simply do not make sense, are piecemeal, will do nothing to protect the NSW public, pre-empt the work of the Building Ministers' Forum already taking place and have been rejected as unworkable in other Australian States.
We question why building certifiers are being singled out now, especially when the Opal Tower investigation is still underway and no cause of the problem has been identified. We agree with the Minister's own words, that certification is one piece of the puzzle here.
If the Minister wants to shine a light on the whole industry, as he claims, why is he not announcing a crackdown on everyone in the supply chain and building process including product manufacturers, developers, builders, engineers and architects. The regulatory function of governments is also part of the building supply chain. The NSW government has failed to use its own regulatory powers and is now seeking to scapegoat certifiers when something goes wrong.
For more almost two years, AIBS has advocated strongly for a more comprehensive audit system to check compliance and proper practice of all professionals involved in the construction process. The NSW government has continued to sit on its hands by failing to properly use the audit system it already has available to it.
AIBS wrote to Minister Kean in October 2018 about these issues and we have not received a response. We are now seeking an urgent meeting with the Minister.
