The following article outlines the prospects of the Government 'getting tough' with the building certifiers in private industry

That is really rich. The Government has been raking in a fortune from the building boom (before the recent bust)

They haven't given a fig about how good the building standards up as long as they keep getting the big stamp duty fortunes that fill their coffers

This is on Premier Berejiklian's head who is the Queen of cutting corners. The Opal Building is a classic example of her neglect

ARTICLE

Source: The Guardian

Sydney Opal Tower: crackdown on certifiers announced as three residents refuse to go


NSW government says it will introduce ‘name and shame register’ and tougher building industry legislation
   
  30 Dec 2018 19.08 AEDT  First published on Sun 30 Dec 2018 14.14 AEDT 


   
            The Opal Tower      
  The Sydney Opal Tower at Olympic Park. Anthony Roberts says the residents who have refused to leave are away from ‘areas of concern’. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP


Three residents inside Sydney’s Opal Tower have refused to evacuate as the New South Wales government announces a crackdown on building certifiers.

Residents of the new Sydney apartment building were evacuated after a crack was found in a pre-cast concrete panel on Christmas Eve.

Some were initially allowed to return but were then re-evacuated on Thursday so that the construction company behind the building could conduct further investigations and repairs.

At a press conference on Sunday, the planning minister, Anthony Roberts, revealed that three residents had refused to leave the building. He said the residents were in “parts of the building that aren’t affected by this”.

Sydney Opal Tower: residents put in hotels might have to move again 


“They have their own individual reasons why they don’t wish to leave and I must say public works engineers on the first night decided the building [was] safe for habitation, structurally safe in those areas,” he said. “Those people are away from those areas of concern.”


The state government has announced its own investigation into the crack and on Sunday the minister for better regulation, Matt Kean, announced he would also introduce new legislation to address “dodgy certifiers” in the industry.


“There has been growing community concern about dodgy certifiers and, while the cause of the recent problems at the Opal Tower remains unknown, what’s happened there has put a spotlight on the industry again,” he said.

Kean announced a new compliance policy that would see certifiers found to have negligently signed off on an unsafe or structurally unsound building immediately kicked out of the industry.

Certifiers who are found to have breached the industry’s code of conduct on building quality will also be banned from working on new strata developments for 12 months.

He also announced a new “name and shame register” that would make a certifier’s disciplinary record available to the public.

The debacle surrounding the Opal Tower has led to a wave of recriminations.

On Boxing Day, the director of the building’s developer, Ecove, hit back at what he described as “sensational” reports, declaring that the Opal Tower was a “high-quality” building and the company that built the tower, Icon Constructions, was “a well-established, high-quality builder”.

 
Bassam Aflak claimed the issues with the building had only become a news story because “it happened over the Christmas break”.

But the NSW Labor opposition has sought to turn the evacuation into a political issue. On Sunday the opposition leader, Michael Daley, announced his own plans to lift building standards and protect home buyers, and criticised the government’s response to the issue.

“For eight long years this government has done nothing except let the building industry drift,” he said. “They’ve let the cowboys come in and now today they’re saying they’re going to act – not because it’s timely but because they want to

cods wrote on Dec 31^st, 2018 at 7:35am:


Quote:


The problem didn't exist then the current government have allowed it to happen under their watch. Just what happens when you elect the friends of dodgy builders.

cods wrote on Dec 31^st, 2018 at 7:49am:


You seem reluctant to accept your team has problems even when it is obvious.

cods wrote on Dec 31^st, 2018 at 7:35am:


That's exactly who to blame ... they are the ones that allow all the deregulation & self regulation and also outsource the certifiers to private enterprise .....

leaving it more open to corruption.

Slash & burn and privatise everything is the LNP ideology.

Yet they have the funds to re-establish the ABCC just to protect dodgy building & safety practices so they can go after Unions & their members who take action to protest that sort of behavior & protect their members.

Olympic Park .... on top a toxic waste dump.

Gnads wrote on Dec 31^st, 2018 at 10:05am:



The engineers should have dug down however deep until they reached solid uncontaminated ground.

Sounds like they built it on mushy ground.
If the foundations are bad the building will have to be demolished.
I hope they are insured?

cods wrote on Dec 31^st, 2018 at 10:19am:




And who would buy an apartment there now?

I see a giant lawsuit coming.

cods wrote on Dec 31^st, 2018 at 10:35am:




I wonder if they will receive compensation?