Building Amendment (Cladding Rectification) Bill 2019

 

Nationally, the Property Council is advocating to ensure a collaborative and cohesive response to combustible cladding issues across states and territories. This position, particularly as it relates to commercial buildings, is enclosed.

Although the Property Council welcomes the Victorian Government's plan for the rectification of cladding affected buildings, we remain concerned that a proposed 700 per cent increase in building levies would add significant costs to new construction projects in the state. It is critical, in establishing the rectification fund and the mechanisms by which rectification is to occur, that the following principles are a key focus:

1. Public safety is paramount and the law should be actively enforced to maintain and enhance safety.
   

    

2. Those who have not installed combustible cladding should not be required to subsidise through future payments the past actions of a small minority.
3. A number of Property Council members have initiated independent safety audits and responded accordingly with private funding. It is essential that appropriate consideration is afforded to these parties, preferably with a mechanism to account for existing investment in rectification works, as part of the revised Cladding Rectification Levy framework.
4. The Government needs to transparently account for what it raises through any increase to the Levy and set out with clarity the extent of rectification works that will be required (which should be commensurate to any risk to safety).