Ms JULIA FINN (Granville) (12:54): My question is addressed to the Minister for Building. Will the Minister update the House on action the Minns Labor Government is taking to restore trust and integrity in the New South Wales building sector?
Mr ANOULACK CHANTHIVONG (Macquarie Fields—Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading, Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Innovation, Science and Technology, Minister for Building, and Minister for Corrections) (12:54): I thank the member for Granville for her question and her interest. She understands the importance of trust and confidence in the building sector and the work that has been done, given the significant challenges the Government inherited not only in housing supply but also in the quality of those suppliers. The Government is committed to addressing two main challenges: delivering more homes, which are quality built, and giving home buyers confidence in the biggest purchase of their lives—for most of us, unless you are a tech billionaire, buying a home is the biggest financial investment we will make in our lifetime.
Standing up the Building Commission NSW is a testament to our commitment to ensuring that we never sacrifice quality for quantity. Those two cues must go hand in hand. Not only did we promise to stand up the Building Commission NSW, but we are acting and we have delivered. The Building Commissioner is transforming the sector, with laser-like focus on residential housing. With the establishment of the Building Commission NSW, staffing has gone from 35 to more than 400 dedicated public servants, who are zeroing in on the legacy we have inherited in the quality challenges of the residential building sector. We are making sure that homes built in New South Wales are safe and people have confidence that the financial investment that they make is sound. We are making sure that homes that are built are of the highest quality. The New South Wales Government promised at the election that we would do that, and we have.
As of 1 December, the Building Commission NSW was established. We put down a $24 million down payment to establish the commission in order to scale up and enhance the work of the Building Commissioner. It is a single, centralised body, tasked with the licensing, regulation and oversight of the entire construction industry. The commission has kicked off with a big bang. Since December we have issued 18 building work rectification orders to force builders to fix their poor-quality work. We have also issued two stop work orders to prevent dangerous building practices from continuing. That will make sure that people have confidence in their homes. Unsurprisingly, such orders often make the news, but that is a feature, not a bug, of the Building Commission NSW. It is doing its job, sending a clear message that we want better and higher quality buildings in the sector, and trying to overturn the big ship we inherited, where perhaps quality was not at the forefront. [Extension of time]
The Building Commissioner is a game changer, with oversight of the entire housing sector, both class 1 and class 2 buildings. We have already seen the impact of the Building Commissioner's work on apartment buildings. We have supercharged his powers to cover freestanding homes, in class 1. The Building Commission will help the New South Wales Government oversee critical reform in this sector, including enhancing capability with sophisticated data and analytics, clamping down on bad behaviour through inspections and licensing, proactively regulating and working with the industry at large, and leading the policy development changes that are required. This change is more than just an update to the office stationery. This legislation comes in with new teeth. The new laws have improved compliance and enforcement systems across the industry. There are new measures to prevent and penalise the shameful practice of phoenixing so we can cancel and refuse licences. There are new responsibilities about building products to ensure that supply chain people are responsible. We are on a mission to make sure that homes in this State are built to be safe and reliable for our people. The Building Commission is a crucial tool as part of our reforms to restore trust and confidence in the sector. Trust and confidence are what make markets work better by ensuring there is continuous supply that will put downward pressure on rents and downward pressure on housing affordability.
The SPEAKER: Order! Opposition front bench members are speaking far too loudly.
Mr ANOULACK CHANTHIVONG: The Building Commission's work will prevent defects by proactively monitoring compliance and enforcement. The sector is changing continually. New South Wales has not had a building Minister in the past. New South Wales has not had a building commission in the past. New South Wales has not had a government that is focused on the housing sector to ensure that quality and quantity go hand in hand. We are proud to make these unprecedented changes and nation-leading reforms to transform the sector to deliver the quality houses that our community deserves.
