An ill-thought through plan by the ACT Government to introduce a licensing scheme for developers would drive up costs, increase uncertainty and slow construction in the national capital.
The ACT Government has previously foreshadowed its plans to introduce a licensing scheme for developers as a way of strengthening accountability and quality for consumers.
The proposal is also being supported by the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union (CFMMEU) who put it to the ACT Labor party conference earlier this year.
The ACT’s Minister for Building Quality Improvement, Gordon Ramsay, last week confirmed the Government’s intention to push ahead with the scheme and consult with industry and the community on the licensing model which would make it the only jurisdiction in Australia to take this approach.
The Property Council has instead urged the ACT Government to focus on implementing the Shergold Weir report recommendations to strengthen building regulation compliance and enforcement, rather than open up a whole new front of regulatory action.
“The government’s proposal begs so many questions, the least of which is: what is the problem the government is trying to address here?” asks Adina Cirson, the Property Council’s ACT executive director.
“What is the scale of the problem? How many complaints are necessitating the introduction of a whole new licensing scheme? And how do you even begin to define a ‘developer’?”
Cirson says the ACT Government’s proposal will “only add more cost, red tape and uncertainty to doing business in the ACT”.
A new licensing scheme for developers would not deliver a single improvement if the government did not focus on the enforcement of its own, existing regulations, Cirson adds.
“We’re on the same page as the ACT Government when it comes to improving standards and building quality.
“But we already have the blueprint for action, with the 24 recommendations from the Shergold Weir report on strengthening compliance and enforcement with existing building regulations.
“The ACT needs to act on these recommendations in sync with other Australian governments, so that we see an improvement in standards across the board.
“The overwhelming majority of people in our industry are doing the right thing. We don’t need a whole new set of different regulations – we need better compliance and enforcement for the high standards already in place,” Cirson concludes.