Page 1287 - Week 05 - Thursday, 31 May 2007
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development nor a building approval, depending on their location, such as certain decks, pergolas, carports and landscaping features.
Mr Speaker, the government, through these proposals, seeks to free up the construction of houses and small structures. The government, however, also accepts the importance of a robust regulatory framework to ensure that there is compliance with building rules to ensure that buildings are structurally sound and do not present a risk to health and safety. This bill allows for the early notification of possibly defective work, providing opportunities for early rectification. Other amendments introduce new offences and penalties. Existing sanctions and disciplinary processes in the Building Act and the Constructions Occupations (Licensing) Act continue to apply.
The bill’s fundamental objectives are to facilitate the greater involvement and responsibility of the private sector in regulating housing development, to strengthen the regulatory environment that the private sector must work within, commensurate with these increased responsibilities, and to strengthen regulatory systems concerning unlawful or otherwise unsubstantiated building work.
A central focus of the bill is to facilitate making private sector building certifiers a one-stop shop for all of the plan approvals and associated certifications necessary to erect buildings that are exempt from requiring development approval. The government will continue to have a role in auditing and regulating certifiers’ services and in issuing the certificates needed to occupy or use a building. But in most other respects builders and landowners will mainly deal with the private sector in approving and certifying building work that is exempt from development approval requirements.
One of the most substantial reforms under the Planning and Development Act 2007 is to cater for certain new houses to be exempt from requiring a development approval, provided the proposal satisfies codified exemption criteria. The function of verifying that such developments meet the development exemption criteria falls to the certifier, in that the certifier is prohibited from issuing a building approval where a required development approval is missing. This is not a fundamental change to the certifier’s role, as certifiers have always been required by the Building Act 2004 to check that applications for building approval reflect the proposed work that either does not require development approval or is consistent with the terms of the respective development approval. Nevertheless, the government considers it appropriate to enhance the regulation of certifiers in their expanded role and has therefore included several new enforcement provisions.
Mr Speaker, the main reforms in the Building Legislation Amendment Bill will be achieved through the following amendments. A building certifier’s functions will be widened to include verifying that plans for building approval show sufficient information to determine if building and other related work is exempt from requiring a development approval under the Planning and Development Bill Act 2007. To date, certifiers’ responsibilities have been confined to building work, but the reforms will widen the certifiers’ plan approval responsibility to encompass other proposed site work, such as driveways, car parking areas and tree damage.
The certifier will not be able to issue an approval for building work unless the certifier is satisfied that the plans show that the proposed building work and its associated site work comply with all relevant code requirements and are therefore exempt from
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