Thursday, 27 August 2026

 Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (12:53): (2566) My question is to the minister responsible for housing and building regarding the updated regulations to do with architects to reduce additional red tape on small businesses in my region. I spoke with Helen, an architect of 40 years based in Mount Beauty. She raised concerns about the new Victorian architect–client agreement regulations that add significant red tape on small practices and sole practitioners. What was once a simple site visit and an email confirmation for a small job now requires pages of contractual information, cooling-off periods and additional obligations. I also met an architect from Castlemaine who expressed similar concerns that small jobs are now being treated the same as multimillion-dollar developments. The new regulations provide limited time for transition, place an increased burden on low-risk services and unfairly burden small practices. This red tape makes it harder for small businesses to operate and harder for people to get professional advice and risks putting the brakes on building and development across Victoria. Minister, will you listen to these small businesses, consult with industry and urgently amend these regulations to remove unnecessary red tape and restore common sense?