Tizard Judith: Building Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Tizard Judith: Building Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:641;Page:10834] 
Hon JUDITH TIZARD (Minister of Consumer Affairs) 
 on behalf of the 
Minister for Building and Construction 
: I move  
That the Building Amendment Bill be now read a first time. 
 After the bill has been read a first time it is intended that we will move that the bill be considered by the Social Services Committee. There is also an intention to move that the Social Services Committee be instructed to report back to the House by 5 November and that the committee have authority to meet at any time when the House is sitting except during questions for oral answer during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week when there has been a sitting in the House despite Standing Orders 192 and 195(1)(b) and (c). This is necessary because the legislation needs to be enacted before 30 November 2007 which is this year. It is important to make minor adjustments to the builder licensing regime before it starts to be phased in from November 2007 and we need to adjust the accreditation and fee-setting framework before the end of this year to allow for the implementation of the new product certification accreditation scheme. 
With this amending legislation the Government is improving the clarity and effectiveness of the regulatory reforms set up under the Building Act 2004. This Act was passed as a response to the systemic issues that led to major building failure in the 1990s and in a wider sense to an expectation that New Zealand would re-establish our world-class reputation for quality-built buildings. The Act is the primary instruction for ensuring that New Zealanders’ homes and buildings are built right the first time. 
The Labour-led Government is rolling out a major suite of reforms under the Building Act 2004 that includes: the licensing of building practitioners from November this year initially on a voluntary basis to ensure that competent people carry out building work; a registration scheme for accredited building consent authorities from November this year to improve the performance and accountability of building consent inspection and approval processes; and a new product certification scheme that will be tied in to international standards of quality and accountability from 2008. Accordingly the Act is large and contains a lot of detail of these schemes which increase the performance and accountability of councils builders and building products. The Act like any large Act that introduces significant new schemes needs some minor adjustments in order to get the details right. 
The Act provides lead-in times so that we can talk through implementation details with the stakeholders and can fine-tune some of the systems and processes before they roll out. The suite of new schemes will be rolling out through to 2013 and we do not need to make any dramatic changes; rather this bill contains minor changes to improve the workability of the Act across a number of areas to ensure the policy intent is matched by how the schemes are being rolled out in practice. 
The bulk of the provisions in the bill contain corrections to minor errors omissions and inconsistencies that have been identified in the lead-up to the full implementation of the Act. I will touch on a few examples of these minor adjustments to the bill. The bill clarifies and reorganises building consent exemptions in particular to ensure that the weathertightness remediation work proceeds with an appropriate building consent. It will also clarify that other matters exempted from building consents under the Building Act 1991 continue to have those exemptions. These include culverts motorway signs and certain pylons that are built by network utility operators such as Transit and Transpower. It is not intended to change these policies from the 1991 Act and the bill will clarify this. For example farmers should still be able to build small dams without needing the red tape of building consent applications. 
The bill will fine-tune some elements of the scheme to license building practitioners that is due to be phased in firstly with voluntary licensing from November this year. Having listened to the sector leaders and to builders on building sites we are clarifying the issue around liability. The Government has no intention of having licensing change the existing liability framework. This bill sorts out any potential confusion by making sure that there are no unintended consequences of new tort liability for licensing building practitioners. 
The bill also sets up the framework for future regulations to define the limit of restricted building work that would be carried out or supervised by licensed building practitioners. The bill integrates the start-up dates for when it will become compulsory to employ licensed building practitioners for restricted work. Instead of splitting the dates across 2009 and 2011 for different trades the requirements will all come into effect in 2010. 
A minor amendment is needed to provide accreditation bodies with sufficient flexibility in the way they will charge fees. Currently regulations allow accreditation bodies to charge fixed amounts only for applications. The amendment will allow future regulations to include hourly and daily rates as well. The Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand will then be able to be approved and appointed as the product certification accreditation body so that the scheme can proceed as planned. 
The bill makes some minor adjustments to the future dam safety scheme by aligning it better with the way that similar dam safety risks are dealt with overseas. For example the bill adds intermediate new categories for earthquake-prone and flood-prone dams. These dams may develop emerging risks over time—for example as a result of unusual levels of rainfall. Regional authorities will be able to require that a dam’s safety classification is reviewed in those situations. The bill also adds an incentive for dam owners to become accredited. Accredited dam owners will not need to provide annual dam compliance certificates. The bill also fixes a drafting error that inadvertently arose in 2004 by clarifying that small dams should be regulated by regional authorities as “dams” not regulated by territorial authorities as “buildings”. It makes sense that all dams are regulated by the same people—those in regional authorities who have expertise in this area. 
The bill introduces a new requirement for territorial authorities to make a statement of project information memorandum reports for public use buildings flagging that there are accessibility requirements in the Act and the building code. This new flag within the existing project information memorandum process will assist in ensuring that people with disabilities can enter and enjoy public buildings such as office buildings retail shops or sports stadia by improving compliance with accessibility requirements at the building design stage. 
There are further minor amendments and a large number of technical drafting corrections that will ensure that the Building Act 2004 is a more robust instrument to regulate the safety and quality of the building and construction industry into the future. This bill will also help fine-tune the Government’s key reforms of the New Zealand building sector under the Building Act 2004. These reforms are transforming the building and construction sector for the better and this bill will help to maximise the effectiveness of the reforms as they are rolled out in the next few years. The building and construction sector is a large and important part of the New Zealand economy and it is vital to the lives of all New Zealanders in one way or another. 
The Building Act reflects the Government’s commitments to ensuring that New Zealanders enjoy quality homes and buildings that meet our needs. For many of us our home is our greatest asset. The bill contributes to the Government’s aim of making sure that all buildings are designed built and inspected at the right time which is the first time. I commend this bill to the House.