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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-10-15 Daily Xml
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Aluminium Composite Cladding

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:16): My question is to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. What is the legislated penalty or remedy for not informing residents, employees or property owners of high or extreme-risk buildings of the outcome of the audit?

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order, sir: it's not customary or appropriate in question time to ask for legal advice. The legislation is available for the member to read.

The SPEAKER: I have the point of order. I do believe that the minister has an appetite to answer the question, so I'm going to give him a go.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:17): We must be in sync, Mr Speaker. Can I say that I actually concur with the Minister for Education's answer there and say that, again, the things that we have said are because that's what is appropriate for us to say. We expect that there is a duty of care as well as a moral obligation on building owners to tell tenants but, more than that, can I say that we will ensure that it is done. We will ensure that tenants and those who occupy those buildings are told.

But, in the first instance, the responsibility and in fact the contractual obligations are between the building owners and the tenants of those buildings. First and foremost, that's the mechanism by which these discussions need to be had. The reason that that's appropriate is because the tenants are going to have a lot of questions that only building owners can answer, and it will be different for different buildings in relation to their different ownership structures, but most appropriately that contractual relationship is between a tenant and a building owner, and that is where we talk about using the existing power.

For instance, councils are using the existing power within the Development Act 1993, and that's why councils are the ones that are enforcing defect notices upon building owners: because they have the legislative power to do so. But, again, the government will make sure that tenants are told, and are told in a timely manner, but first and foremost it is a relationship that is had between tenants and the building owner.

The SPEAKER: I am going to give the leader one more, and then the member for Morphett.

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