This is what I got from AIBS yesterday
Dear Members
RESPONSE TO THE VICTORIAN OMBUDSMAN REPORT INTO GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE VICTORIAN BUILDING COMMISSION
The Australian Institute of Building Surveyors (AIBS) is the preeminent national peak body representing 2500 Building Surveying professionals, 800 in Victoria, who have a statutory responsibility to certify that buildings across Australia are safe, energy efficient, accessible and meet legislative, regulatory and Building Code of Australia requirements and standards. http://www.aibs.com.au
AIBS welcomes the Ombudsman’s tabling of his report into the building commission, having raised significant concerns about blatant systemic failures at the Building Commission with previous Ministers and the previous Commissioner for many years to no avail.
The report confirms allegations of collusion, corruption, misconduct, interference in investigations, favouritism and harassment, along with the failure of the Commission to use its powers to enforce the Act. These rumours have long circulated throughout the building and construction industry. The failure to take swift and decisive action against registered practitioners who engage in unconscionable, unethical conduct or are incompetent has resulted in huge costs to the building industry and great stress for consumers.
According to State President, Con Giazi, AIBS is disappointed but not surprised by the Ombudsman’s findings, although shocked at the extent of problems. “This report is an indictment on the previous regime and the toxic culture which festered throughout the Building Commission and then spread through the industry. It highlights deficiencies which AIBS has been bringing to the attention of the previous Government for many years. Even more galling is the misuse of funds by the Commission on entertainment, expending application and registration fees paid by hard working blue collar workers and building industry professionals alike while few resources were applied to investigations, training and enforcement – the core functions of the Building Commission.” he continued.
“We agree with the Ombudsman that there is no justification for the Commission to spend significant public funds on meals and entertainment for external stakeholders or its staff and that it is an inherent conflict in the Commission providing this entertainment when its core function is the ‘regulation of people it is entertaining.’
The report identifies $1.75 million dollars spent on “questionable entertainment, hospitality and sponsoring industry bodies”, including:
- Over $200,000 on meals and entertainment over a three-year period
- Over $100,000 spent in 18 months on entertaining at sporting events such the AFL and Australian Open Tennis
- A policy that allowed staff to spend up to $500 on meals and hospitality before management approval was required
- Over $300,000 incurred by the former Commissioner and another Director over a three-year period on overseas travel connected to the former Commissioner’s involvement with the Green Building Council of Australia and the World Green Building Council.
In addition, we are staggered by revelations of credit card limits of $25,000 per month for senior staff, breaches of recruitment practices, outrageously lucrative contractor arrangements, conflicts of interest, kickbacks to the previous Registrar of the Building Practitioners Board; and blowouts of six times the agreed price for IT services,” he said.
The report also references nearly $950,000 expended in less than four years on sponsoring various events and awards run by peak building industry bodies. Of this, AIBS acknowledges it received $125,000 over 4 year period in conference sponsorship, which was provided the purpose of training provision for building surveyors and inspectors from throughout Victoria. “AIBS does not deem this to be inappropriate.”
“For over a decade AIBS has been pushing for the introduction of compulsory Continuous Professional Development for all practitioners. The previous Government and the Building Commission failed to respond to numerous reports, submissions and economic data to support the introduction of mandatory education over many years. Victoria is the only jurisdiction in Australia without compulsory CPD, crucial to ensuring that building surveyors maintain the required level of gap skill training and certainty that minimum standards are complied with. Building regulations, codes and standards are becoming more complex as a result of the need to improve the safety and amenity of buildings in areas such as bushfire risk, pool safety, energy efficiency and disability access and there is also constant technical innovation in building products and systems. Every change which impacts on the registered professional’s responsibilities has a direct effect on the capacity of Building Surveyors and Inspectors to competently make assessments in the built environment.” he continued.
“AIBS welcomed Minister Guy’s response to VAGO’s report on the building permit system twelve months ago and DPCD’s commitment to the introduction of compulsory CPD, which is currently the subject of a Business Impact Statement prior to its introduction. While this will go some way to improving technical competency and compliance with the raft of legislative, regulatory and building codes, more needs to be done by the Building Practitioners Board, which is responsible for the quality and standard of services in the Victorian building industry. While AIBS welcomes the BPB’s support for the introduction of compulsory CPD in the VAGO report, it needs to use the powers it has to order applicants and registered practitioners undertake training to improve their skills. It also needs to take swift action against those it registers who do the wrong thing, either deliberately or inadvertently.” Mr Giazi said.
“AIBS calls on the Government to establish an audit of all builders approved for registration under the delegation of previous Registrar of the BPB Peter Brilliant, along with relevant permits as identified by the Ombudsman. The revelations relating to kickbacks are of grave concern. It is noted in Recommendation 9 that practitioners ‘have been registered without appropriate qualifications or experience.’ Further investigation is crucial to rebuild confidence in the registration process for consumers and industry alike.
The report makes clear that the current processes of the Building Practitioners Board cannot be relied upon to adequately assess competency and qualifications in a standardised manner. AIBS calls on the Minister to introduce the mandatory AIBS National Accreditation Scheme as a pathway to registration in Victoria as it exists in almost every other State and Territory.”
AIBS calls on the Minister for Planning to ramp up the restructure of the Building Commission, which needs to regain the trust and support of the building professions and the public alike. It and its Statutory Authorities need to use the substantial existing legislative powers to ensure expertise and competency among registered building practitioners, to mitigate risk to the community in the built environment and to safeguard the economic benefits of a vibrant building and construction sector.” Mr. Giazi concluded.
Click on this link to read the Victorian Ombudsman’s report
Well, there’s in every field corruption has increase and also building inspection is also not an exception.