The Victorian government announced that Master Builders Association of Victoria will participate in a stakeholder reference group for the government’s new Victorian Cladding Taskforce, which investigates the extent of non-compliant cladding on buildings in the state.

“The key issue is knowing the suitability of a product for a given application. Availability for sale is not an indicator of this,” said Master Builders Association of Victoria CEO Radley de Silva.

“We have been calling for transparency and clarity of information; rather than churn out more legislation, the government needs to make certain everyone in the building and construction industry can educate themselves as to how to use the right product in the right place,” Mr de Silva said.

“Clarity of information and enforcement of the rules is the way to achieve that. The government needs to collect the existing, scattered array of information and certification tools into a single coherent resource, backed up with a commitment to oversight and enforcement,” he said.

“Right now, the critical information about compliant building products is scattered too widely and hard to find. A better certification process and a single portal for all product types would help get the right products in the right place.

“We are keenly aware we face a problem with non-conforming products, especially with regard to cladding. We are glad to be involved with solving this issue, and we note that the Building Ministers Forum will be implementing a one-stop shop website for providing information on non-conforming building products and offer the public the ability to submit a complaint or enquiry about a product or material. So we caution against making things more complicated with new processes that just duplicate national ones, and we will be bringing that mindset to the state-based forum on cladding. We want a system that works for the whole industry and community,” Mr de Silva said.

For more information, refer to our recent post about cladding and NCPs here.