Victoria’s conflicted building system

Today’s front page story in The Age is an article on Victoria’s building system and the operation of private building practitioners.  It is worth a read.

It has been about twenty years since Jeff Kennett deregulated Victoria’s building industry and put the important public approval process of issuing building permits in the hands of private practitioners serving their clients’ interests.  It should now be readily apparent this system is fundamentally flawed.

This issue has been topical again recently following the spectacular debacle at a site in Highbury Road, Mount Waverley.  The Victorian Building Authority is currently investigating and until that process is completed, it is too early to speculate on whether there has been any failure on the part of the private building surveyor engaged on that project.

However, there would not have been more than six months which have gone past during the 15 years I have been a councillor where I have not received complaints from residents about a building permit signed off by a private building surveyor.

The most egregious example I can recall is a building permit for a property in Glen Waverley which was issued by a private building surveyor based on a fraudulent letter produced in his office.  The letter purported to be a grant by Monash Council of substantial and totally unreasonable dispensations from the building regulations. We reported this matter to the police and the then Building Commission more than two years ago.

Unfortunately, Victoria’s now replaced Building Commission had a long history of being ineffective and reluctant to act.  The jury is still out on whether its successor body, the newly-formed Victorian Building Authority, is any better.

This experience – unfortunately not an isolated one – has eroded my confidence in the integrity of Victoria’s building system.

Victoria’s deregulated building industry is fundamentally flawed and inherently and inescapably conflicted.  Sign-offs on building permits ought to be in the hands of public authorities like local councils acting in the public interest rather than private individuals and businesses trying to make profit out of it.

The current approach is like privatising the police force and allowing criminals to choose who investigates or prosecutes them.

I am sure there are many ethical private building surveyors operating today in Victoria.  But even they face an ever-present natural inclination to want to serve their client’s interests.  Invariably corners are cut, standards are relaxed and grey areas are always determined in favour of their clients who pay their bills.  This is no way to administer a building system in one of the world’s fastest growing major cities.  Its very basis is blatantly contrary to the public interest.

Councils are not perfect – I am the first to concede that, but at least they clearly operate in the public interest and their decisions are readily accessible, reviewable, transparent and accountable.

If a monstrosity was being built next door to my home, I would feel much more comfort knowing an impartial body like the local council was signing off on the building permit rather than a private building surveyor engaged by the very person developing the site.

After 20 years of deregulated operation, it is now well and truly time for the state government to review the operation of Victoria’s building system and consider reform in the public interest.