For only the second time in its 129 year history, Master Builders Australia has a president hailing from the nation's capital, with the election of Simon Butt last month.
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Mr Butt has been an active member of the building and construction sector in the ACT for more than 30 years. He is the chief executive of construction contractor Manteena.
"We focus on commercial, residential and we have a security-building arm," he said.
"We've worked now across the world, so we do international works for Australian government departments, I think we have worked in something like 35 countries and about 40 cities."
Mr Butt said one of the main challenges facing the building industry was a "loss of confidence", and he advocated for an industry-wide approach.
"Getting the whole of the supply chain working well, so there is no one silver bullet," he said.
"Everybody has to do their bit and if everybody does their bit well the system will work.
"There is no answer to say if we fix that one part we've fixed everything, we know that doesn't work. So our challenge is to make sure that all of that works well."
Mr Butt said the MBA wanted "meaningful consultation".
"We are seeing some changes in building reform and some other director and corporate guarantee legislation coming into effect and what we really want is meaningful consultation," he said.
"The challenge for us as an industry is to be out there and advocate well for good legislation, good regulation that is implemented well with independent statutory bodies.
"So getting the certifier issue which is very topical in terms of certifiers and the potential conflict of interest where they are working for hte builder developer as opposed to the owner."
In one of his first calls as president, Mr Butt urged the Senate to pass the Ensuring Integrity Bill, which would have made it easier to deregister law-breaking unions and disqualify officials. But the bill was voted down last week.
"There was an overwhelming consensus from Master Builders' members around the country that the Ensuring Integrity laws are vital to protecting building businesses from union bullying and restoring the rule of law in our industry," he said in a statement.
"Our industry for years has been afflicted by the bullying, intimidation and thuggery of construction unions and their officials, some of whom repeatedly flout the law."
Mr Butt is no stranger to the MBA. He has been a member since the early nineties, and on the national board for seven years. He previously served as the president of the Master Builders ACT.
Master Builders ACT chief executive Michael Hopkins praised the election of Mr Butt.
"Simon has a long and proud history with the MBA and brings with him a wealth of knowledge," he said.
"He is highly regarded in the ACT as a leader within the building and construction industry."
Alongside his roles at Manteena and the MBA, Mr Butt was appointed as an adjunct professor at the University of Canberra last year.