The following residents of the ACT draw the attention of the Assembly that:
1.The ACT building industry is plagued by serious problems, which can be traced back to the Government's regulatory overhang.
2. Building Approvals lead times have increased exponentially, with Building Approvals on schemes now taking 30% of a project's total budget, which is not sustainable in the long term.
3. The ACT Government framework, and the planning system generally continually frustrates the construction industry, associated public servants, and the public and ultimately contributes enormously to the cost of construction at all levels in the ACT.
4. Current workloads for ACT Building Certifiers are unsustainable, and this creates extensive project delays and cascading effects on project timing and cost overruns.
5. There are unjustifiable delays in the processing of approvals by the Tree Protection Unit, and it is unsustainable that a standard seven-week turnaround time is needed for a project of minor impact to the tree cover.
6. The imposition of new pool fencing standards of late has caused widespread confusion among industry players. The standards are unclear, and there is little guidance available to help with compliance.
Your petitioners, therefore, request the Assembly to:
1. Have genuine consultation with the ACT building industry to help mitigate the regulatory burden, streamline approval procedures, and restore confidence in the system.
2. Commit to no more changes to the National Construction Code, as it’s applied in the ACT for the next 5 years.
3. Allow licensed builders to certify pool fencing
4. Require referral entities for building and development approvals to provide timely advice on applications
5. Automatically approve building and development applications that are not decided within statutory timeframes.