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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-07-16 Daily Xml
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Parliamentary Committees

SELECT COMMITTEE ON PRIVATE CERTIFIERS

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON (Croydon—Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (15:58): I move:

That standing orders be so far suspended so as to enable me to move an instruction to the Select Committee on Private Certifiers without notice forthwith.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: An absolute majority not being present, ring the bells.

An absolute majority of the whole number of members being present:

Motion carried.

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON (Croydon—Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (16:01): I move:

That it be an instruction to the Select Committee on Private Certifiers that its terms of reference be extended to enable the committee also to inquire into building surveyors with amended terms of reference as follow:

1. That the committee inquire into the functions and duties of certifiers and building surveyors under the Development Act 1993, and in particular:

(i) the framework under the Development Act 1993 to handle complaints made against certifiers/buildings surveyors, and

(ii) the current process for accrediting certifiers/building surveyors in the state of South Australia, and

(iii) whether current methods of accreditation for certifiers/building surveyors is appropriate and/or whether other streams of accreditation should be considered; and

(iv) the appropriate qualifications required by certifiers/building surveyors to undertake tasks related to the structural integrity of buildings; and

(v) the system of auditing approvals provided by certifiers/building surveyors and adequacy of the current processes of enforcement in the event of a breach to the Development Act; and

(vi) any other matters directly relevant to the functions and duties of certifiers/building surveyors under the Development Act 1993.

2. That the committee inquire into whether the Building Advisory Committee or any of its members have been placed under any undue influence in the performance of their statutory duties.

The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (16:01): I will make a contribution to this motion on behalf of the opposition, as a member of the select committee. The opposition supports this proposal. We do so because it became evident from the early submissions to the committee that the people making submissions interpreted the current terms of reference as restricting the inquiry to the activities of private certifiers, who tend not to do a lot of the work inside councils in relation to building approvals.

The committee felt that it would be difficult trying to take evidence and not consider the role of building surveyors in the local government area, while considering submissions about private certifiers that perform the same role in the private sector. It was the committee's recommendation to the government that it consider this matter. The government has acted very quickly—within 24 hours. The opposition thanks the government for that and supports the motion, and looks forward to taking submissions.

The Hon. P.L. WHITE (Taylor) (16:03): As a government member of the select committee, I concur with the comments of the member for Davenport. It was the unanimous view of members of the select committee that this instruction should be given to the committee in order to make it clear that, while we expected to take evidence from building surveying professionals, both in the private and public sectors, some submissions to the inquiry interpreted the terms of reference as just looking at private certifiers; so that has been amended with these new terms of reference.

We have not yet heard from witnesses. We have received some written submissions. If this motion is passed and the terms of reference are amended as indicated on the Notice Paper, the committee will readvertise and write to all those people who made initial submissions, inviting them to amend or extend their submissions, if they so wish.

Motion carried.

The Hon. M.J. ATKINSON (Croydon—Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (16:05): I move:

That the time for bringing up the report of the committee be extended to Thursday 29 October 2009.

Motion carried.

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