Mr DUGALD SAUNDERS (Dubbo) (13:00): My question is directed to the Minister for Building. Does the Minister accept responsibility for construction industry insolvencies increasing by 111 per cent under his watch? One hundred and eleven—you would think it is a joke, wouldn't you?

The SPEAKER: That is not how a question should be asked.. The last comment will be deleted from the question. The member for Dubbo will desist from making comments when asking questions.

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) (13:01): I thank the Leader of The Nationals for his question regarding building insolvencies. It is certainly a very tough economic climate for business at the moment. We have had a number of challenges around skills shortages, material supplies. It is, of course, a tough financial industry. But the best way to reduce insolvencies is to make sure we uplift the standard and performance of the building and construction industry so that it does not have to retrospectively fix projects or construction sites that are not up to standard. That is why we established the Building Commission NSW, to bring trust and confidence back to the industry. For 99 per cent of people, buying a property is the biggest investment they will ever make in their lifetime. To gain consumers' trust and confidence, construction companies must lift their skills, their quality standards and their performance.

The SPEAKER: Members will come to order.

Mr ANOULACK CHANTHIVONG: Reforms were passed by this Parliament last year to strengthen and expand the powers of the Building Commission to regulate the industry, to look at class 1 buildings in addition to class 2 buildings, and to encourage more businesses to take out annual liability insurance. We want to ensure that we continue to employ the right enforcement and compliance powers to inspect buildings, to lift standards and to make good builders better builders. That is an important part of ensuring that we deliver the houses that the New South Wales economy needs. Part of all of this is to make sure that companies do not experience financial difficulty and so they do not have to fix substandard work. We do this by having a strong Building Commission, good compliance, good enforcement, making good builders better builders, making sure those tradespeople are properly licensed—particularly in the area of waterproofing, which is the top defect in class two buildings. Later this year the Government will be introduce a building bill to ensure that enforcement, compliance and licensing of the building and construction industry is centralised. Resolving insolvency is about lifting the standard of that industry.