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Chairman's ReportChairman’s Report December 2004I am pleased to state the October 2004 BLA conference held in Canberra on 6 & 7 October was the largest gathering of builder licensing regulators for many years I am pleased to state the October 2004 BLA conference held in Canberra on 6 & 7 October was the largest gathering of builder licensing regulators for many years. The Conference was attended 18 participants from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, the ACT, Northern Territory, Commonwealth Government and New Zealand. BLA Members updated each other on current developments which included; • New Zealand’s plan for the introduction of Builder Licensing, voluntary in 2007 and mandatory in 2009; • Tasmania’s progress on its implementation of the licensing system which commenced on 1 July 2004; • The Northern Territory’s plan to introduce builder licensing in 2006; • Victoria’s new 1300 number, Scopes of Work project and the review of the Vic Guide to Standards and Tolerances; • Queensland’s introduction of the Building and Construction Industry Payments Agency on 1 October 2004 and Customer Access Project from 1 July 2005 • South Australia’s upgrade of its Assisted Application process to include Mutual Recognition Applicants; and • New South Wales’ review of its licensing system and Home Warranty Insurance update. Our hosts the ACT gave a presentation on the new Construction Occupations (Licensing) Act 2004 which gives the ACT Land and Planning Authority greater powers to issue rectification orders to builders, the introduction of a government backed insurance scheme and the implementation of demerit points for builders who produce defective work. For more information on the COLA Act refer www.actlpa.act.gov.au. The Home Warranty Insurance market has become more stable since the collapse of HIH Insurance in 2001. BLA Members discussed the issues associated with private home warranty insurance. Col Wright, Deputy General Manager, Queensland Building Services Authority (QBSA) gave a presentation summarising Queensland’s Statutory Home Warranty Insurance Scheme. Col has had over 24 years experience with Qld’s scheme and BLA Members were fortunate to hear his opinions as to home warranty insurance. Yvonne Noordhuis, BLA’s Commonwealth Government representative, updated members on the Productivity Commission Report into the Building Industry. The report makes a number of recommendations which effect the State regulators including the introduction of a national template for building contracts, greater awareness of the Building Code of Australia (BCA) including the a recommendation that it become freely available. It was pleasing to see the Commission also recommending a nationally consistent builder licensing system; this is one of BLA’s major goals and something we have been working towards for some time. Supervision is an important topic to BLA with a number of jurisdictions reviewing their Supervision models. All jurisdictions require their licensees to adequately supervise building work or ensure work is of a proper or workmanlike manner. Defining supervision is a very difficult task and many Courts across the country have tried to do so. Tony Mangion, Manager Business and Occupational Services, Office of Business and Consumer Affairs, SA summarised SA’s supervision based licensing system. Ian Grant, Manager Policy, QBSA, gave a presentation about Qld’s review of its Supervision model. BLA members agreed Supervision should be a topic for future conferences. On Day 2, BLA received a presentation from Terry Sanders, director of the Australian Construction Industry Forum and General Manager of the Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (AIQS). Terry gave an informative presentation about the role of the ACIF its strategic plan for 2005 and its forecasting model. Terry also discussed the problems the AIQS are having in promoting the Quantity Surveying as a job of choice for young people. BLA welcomes presentations from industry representatives. If you would like to give a presentation at a future BLA conference, please email registrar@builders.wa.gov.au. A large part of the morning of Day 2 was devoted to Continuing Professional Development (CPD). NSW, Vic and Tas have introduced CPD into their schemes with Qld and NZ also looking to introduce CPD schemes. Paul Burgess, A/Director, Licensing & Industry Standards, Home Building Services (NSW) gave a presentation as to NSW’s recently announced changes to its mandatory CPD scheme. Through BLA, members have agreed to a consistent and unified approach to CPD across the country. CPD will remain a topic of interest for BLA in future conferences. The next BLA Conference is scheduled for April. |
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