Wednesday, 16 August 2023

Building system review

Samantha RATNAM (Northern Metropolitan) (18:05): (404) My adjournment matter tonight is for the Minister for Planning, and my ask is that she publicly releases the report of stage 2 of the building system review. The building system review began after years of documented failures in our building system in Victoria. There have been far too many unsafe and substandard homes built across the state in the last decade. We have heard too many stories of owners who have purchased an apartment only to discover that their roof leaks, their balcony is cracking or their building is covered in dangerous combustible cladding. Developers have been cutting corners and constructing homes on the cheap in order to maximise their own profits, and our regulatory system, which should provide the oversight and rules to prevent the bad behaviour, has simply allowed it to happen.

The Victorian Building Authority has made headlines in recent months for a series of regulatory failures, including conducting plumbing audits remotely via iPhone and allowing inspectors to assess the quality and safety of roofs from the ground. And while the flammable cladding crisis has been the most public failure of our building system in recent years, it is just the tip of the iceberg. My office regularly hears from owners who in the process of arranging cladding removal discover multiple additional faults in the buildings that need to be fixed before the cladding removal can even begin. The Age recently reported that out of the 339 buildings that have government funding to remove cladding, half had other faults and defects and one in four had balcony defects. Many of the defects related to insufficient waterproofing, and for some the situation is so bad that black mould has spread into the timber and insulation. These homes are literally rotting away. For owners the cost of fixing these defects can cost into the hundreds of thousands. Owners are facing significant debt trying to navigate complex legal proceedings, chasing down builders who have long gone out of business and managing lengthy rectification works while living in homes that are falling apart, all through no fault of their own.

We must do better. If this government is about to introduce sweeping changes to our planning system to increase the supply of housing, it must also ensure these new houses are homes that people actually can and want to live in – well designed, built to a high standard and at the very minimum structurally sound. It is clear major reform is needed in the building industry before we can have confidence that our regulatory and oversight systems are capable of delivering these high-quality homes. We need to do more to stop developers shirking regulations and rules to maximise profits, and the building system review is the perfect opportunity to embark on this reform project. The review, which is led by an expert panel, is being conducted in three stages. Stage 1 has been completed. Although the government has committed in principle to all of the 16 recommendations, many are yet to be implemented. Stage 2 has been completed and handed to the minister, yet the government is yet to release the report or announce the recommendations that will be implemented. I ask the minister to release the report of stage 2 of the building system review.