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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-02-23 Daily Xml
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SECURITY OF PAYMENT LEGISLATION

The Hon. J.A. DARLEY (14:43): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Consumer Affairs questions regarding security of payment legislation.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.A. DARLEY: Members will recall that in December 2009 parliament passed the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2009. That legislation cannot commence its operation until the accompanying regulations are drafted. Obviously, there are also a number of administrative matters that need to be addressed at departmental level. My office has been following the progress, or lack thereof, of this legislation since its inception, and I am in regular contact with stakeholder groups regarding its progress.

Needless to say, these stakeholder groups are growing very concerned over the delays around the consultation period of the draft regulations and the implementation of the legislation itself. In addition, because so much of the detail involved in the new scheme will be dealt with by way of regulation, stakeholder groups cannot adequately prepare themselves for what is to come. Given that yesterday the minister referred to the government as being about action, my questions are:

1. When does the government intend to make an announcement regarding the consultation process for the security of payment draft regulations?

2. When is it intended that the legislation be implemented?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Public Sector Management, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises) (14:44): I thank the honourable member for his ongoing interest in this particular policy area. It is an extremely important policy area, and it does provide additional protections to contractors in terms of securing progressive payments to them. Often these contractors are single entity businesses. They do not have the backing of large corporations or organisations and the resources they have at their disposal. Often it is the very small businessman—

The Hon. Carmel Zollo: Or woman.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: —or woman. They are predominately men, though, I have to say, in the construction area. So, it is a very important policy area, and I know that the Hon. John Darley has had an ongoing interest in this particular area.

The Office of Consumer and Business Affairs is currently working with government agencies to process the security of payments legislation. This particular policy cuts across a number of different agencies and different ministerial responsibilities, so work has had to be done across agencies. I am advised that some issues are being considered, including relevant structures and processes and the function of similar schemes in other states, so we are really working down to the details now.

This body of work is obviously a large undertaking. It is setting up a new system and processes within this state that have not previously existed, especially given that most of OCBA's work to date has been focused on transactions and disputes between businesses and consumers.

The work on regulations has commenced, so I can assure the member that the work is progressing. The intention is to have the new system in place by the end of this year as the legislation, I believe, requires. I can assure the member that an announcement will be made very soon.

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