Question Without Notice No. 522 asked in the Legislative Council on 6 September 2017 by Hon Michael Mischin
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
BUILDING PERMIT APPLICATIONS — FULL PRIVATE CERTIFICATION
522. Hon MICHAEL MISCHIN to the minister representing the Minister for Commerce and Industrial Relations:
My question without notice of which some notice has been given is directed to the Minister for Environment representing the Minister for Commerce and Industrial Relations.
I refer to a Housing Industry Association forum conducted on 23 February 2017, at which representatives of the then Labor opposition claimed that a McGowan government would introduce full private certification for building permit applications within six months of gaining office.
(1) Now that six months has passed, has full private certification been introduced as promised; and, if not, why not?
(2) If it has not been implemented as promised, what is the status of the project, and when will it be implemented?
(3) Like Premier McGowan's promise before the election to introduce mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment for drug dealers, is this another example of Labor telling people what it thought they wanted to hear to win votes, but without any real understanding of the issues that needed to be resolved to implement the idea or any genuine commitment to do so?
Point of Order
The PRESIDENT: I think you might be jumping the gun, minister.
Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN: I do not think that part (3) of that question falls within standing orders.
The PRESIDENT: I think you are right, and I think the Deputy Leader of the Opposition may need to be reminded yet again that he should not be seeking opinions. The minister responsible might want to respond to the first two parts of the question.Questions without Notice Resumed
Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
Thank you, Madam President, and I just point out to the member, who has been very careful to point out when people make little errors, such as with their email addresses, that I, not the Minister for Environment, am in fact the minister representing the Minister for Commerce and Industrial Relations. My answer is based on information provided to me by the minister.
(1) The work required to introduce full private certification has commenced.
(2) The Building Ministers' Forum is conducting a review of certification processes as part of the national work following from investigations of the use of flammable building cladding, and it is essential that the outcomes of this review be considered in designing the Western Australian model.