Collaborative COAG Energy Council supports a national collaborative approach to residential building ratings and disclosure. This will include: communicating with stakeholders to ensure disclosure schemes are developed and implemented to best achieve the intended outcome; regular jurisdictional meetings (every six months) to share information on the development, implementation and operation of disclosure schemes; consideration by jurisdictions of the findings of pilots, trials and programs in the development, implementation and operation of their disclosure schemes; and regularly reviewing the Principles to ensure they continue to be relevant for disclosure schemes. Disclosure schemes should be founded on collaboration between national government, state and territory governments, and industry, to reduce confusion in the market and minimise compliance costs for industry. State and Territory Led Rating and disclosure schemes will be phased-in by State and Territory Governments to suit their specific circumstances. States and Territories are responsible for building regulation and have different policy environments and industry. and Territory led schemes will allow ratings and disclosure schemes to be phased-in by each state and territory as appropriate, noting the ACT already has a mandatory scheme and NSW and Victoria have schemes under development. Empowers Householders
Consistent and Repeatable Assessments States and Territories will make transparent and share assessment methods and methodologies used for rating and disclosure schemes. Assessment methods will have the following characteristics as a minimum: balance cost of delivery with accuracy of result; have an appropriate level of consistency between ratings and with ratings for new builds; use credible methods for measuring and benchmarking house performance; produce assessments that allow for simple comparisons of different dwellings; and produce repeatable assessments. By having transparency and sharing assessment methods and methodologies will enable other jurisdictions to more easily leverage, align and make consistent their assessment methods. Ensuring assessment give repeatable assessments and leverage existing methods will provide certainty to the market. Whole Supply Chain Approach Rating and disclosure schemes will take a ‘whole supply chain’ approach when reviewing, developing and implementing schemes. As schemes provide information, for them to be effective they must take into account the intended and unintended consequences up and down the supply chain. Adaptable Structures Support Voluntary and Mandatory All voluntary and mandatory schemes will consider principles to ensure a coherent approach to ratings and disclosure. Considering these principles across voluntary and mandatory schemes will increase leveraging across schemes, noting the ACT already has a mandatory scheme. Complement Other Policies and Programs If practicable, disclosure schemes will be designed to complement other relevant policies and programs. This will increase the effectiveness and efficient use of both disclosure and complementary actions. For example, building disclosure schemes could complement existing jurisdiction energy efficiency savings schemes to encourage greater adoption of residential building upgrades. Continual Improvements