Victorian Building Authority a “lame duck”

Following the Victorian Planning Minister’s decision to dissolve the Victorian Building Authority’s (VBA) board back in March of this year, there is still no announcement on the future and direction of the embattled government department.

The decision to ask six of the seven board members to step down with six months remaining on their terms of appointment, spoke volumes of the government’s views on the VBA’s performance.

Last year, Worksafe Victoria charged the VBA with two counts of breaching the occupational health and safety legislation. There have been reports from former VBA employees that the workplace culture was toxic.

The government’s decision to review the Domestic Building Contracts Act and to recommend improvements to the VBA’s powers is welcomed, but the review has moved too slowly by half.

And, although public submissions were required to be submitted back in March, it is now six months later and there is no draft Bill or further report that has been released that would reassure any consumers seeking to buy a new house or apartment that the regulator has strong enforcement powers to compel compliance with the Building Code of Australia.

Successive Victorian Governments over the past 20 years on both sides of the chamber have underfunded the VBA, leading to a massive shortage of expertise and experience within the organisation.

This was badly exposed after the extent of the combustible cladding crisis in Victoria was revealed back in 2016, as the VBA had to admit they could not produce records as to how many buildings in Victoria had been affixed with incorrect or combustible cladding materials on their facades.

The lack of funding also hamstrings the VBA’s enforcement and compliance teams, because they only have the resources to throw the book at a small number of building and compliance complaints.

Over time, the building and plumbing industries in Victoria have grown emboldened that they can get away with non-compliances because it is so unlikely the VBA could mount any serious compliance challenge to their work.

Here we have the perfect storm, because there are weak and inadequate consumer protection laws and powers, and inadequate and underfunded means of enforcement. The VBA officers can instead only mount a handful of prosecutions and rectification orders proceedings in any given year and hope to maximise publicity and media opportunities to create a public perception of a strong watchdog.

Consumer Affairs Victoria would do well to look to New South Wales’s restructure of its building industry following high profile residential building failures. Its decision to create a building commissioner with strong independent powers and a sheriff’s mentality has made the building and development industry step up and take notice.

Improvement in the quality of building standards won’t happen overnight in Victoria. It will take years of hard work by the VBA to right the ship and regain its position as an enforcer of the building code.

But until the right legislation and increased funding is provided, it will remain a lame duck for the foreseeable future. •