Certifiers have accused the ACT government of having an "inappropriate and disproportionate hyper-focus" on the profession as it pursues another reform of Canberra's construction sector.
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The Australian Institute of Builder Surveyors made the claim after the ACT government announced plans to establish a team of public sector certifiers to oversee large-scale residential development in the national capital.
The ACT Property Council has also responded angrily to the announcement, which it first learnt about through media reports on Wednesday morning.
The territory's model of fully private building certification has long been considered controversial because of concerns it gives rise to potential conflicts of interest.
Land owners are responsible for hiring certifiers, which in the case of multi-unit developments is the developer themselves.
ACT Minister for Building Quality Improvement Gordon Ramsay said the relationship between developers, builders and certifiers can be "too close, too warm, too comfortable".
But Australian Institute of Builder Surveyors chief executive Brett Mace said the ACT government appeared to be unreasonably targeting certifiers.
"There appears to be an inappropriate and disproportionate hyper-focus on certifiers and all other professionals and practitioners in the building supply chain appear once again to be escaping government scrutiny," Mr Mace said.
Mr Mace said instead of spending money establishing a team of government certifiers, the government should fund an audit of the entire sector which holds all professions to account.
"It has been a key failure by government not to have a well-defined and resourced auditing system to protect the public," he said.
Dave Delchau, a director at CBS Building Surveyors, said the profession was tired of being singled out when they were just "one piece in the puzzle".
Mr Delchau, who is also the institute's ACT branch representative, said local practitioners weren't opposed to the re-introduction of government certifiers. But he said they would be concerned if the government locked private practitioners out of working on certain jobs.
ACT Property Council executive director Adina Cirson lashed the government for not consulting with the lobby group about the major policy shift.
"It is very disappointing to be hearing about government's plans around private certification through the media," she said.
"It is very disingenuous. If they were serious about these announcements then they would engage with us. You can't be serious about fixing these issues if you don't engage with the industry to whom the laws apply. It seems nonsensical to me".
Ms Cirson was again critical of the ACT government for pursuing reforms which weren't recommended in the landmark Shergold Weir building confidence report.
Mr Ramsay defended his decision not consult with industry groups about the specific proposal, saying that government needed to take a "leadership role".
"When you are reforming industry, you work alongside industry, you hear industry. But industry doesn't get to reform industry".
Master Builders Association of the ACT chief executive Michael Hopkins "cautiously" welcomed Mr Ramsay's announcement, saying it was a "step in the right direction to improve building quality in the ACT".
"We understand consumers concerns about building quality and know that more must be done in order to improve building standards in Canberra," he said.
Mr Hopkins said a system which included private and public certifiers could work, as had been demonstrated in NSW. But Mr Hopkins said the same standards needed to be applied to both government and non-government practitioners.
He said more detail was needed on how the ACT team of public sector certifiers would operate, as he stressed the need for proper consultation with industry stakeholders.
Owners Corporation Network president Gary Petherbridge was pleased the ACT government was bringing back public certifiers, but cautioned that it would not be the silver bullet to fix problems with shoddy construction work.
Mr Petherbridge said it was essential that the same certifier, architect and engineer worked closely together throughout the construction process to reduce the chances of defects arising.
ACT Greens planning spokeswoman Caroline Le Couteur supported the government's plan to re-introduce public sector certifiers.
But Ms Le Couteur said the government should go further and mandate the use of public certifiers for any developments under construction by a builder who had previously been hit with fines or penalties for shoddy work.
The Canberra Liberals have offered their in-principal support to the government's proposal.
But opposition planning spokesman Mark Parton questioned Labor's motives and timing of the announcement, which comes less than three months before the ACT election.
"Is it any surprise that three months out from an election, ACT Labor has suddenly developed a conscience and is now desperately trying to fix a system that it has broken?" Mr Parton said.
"Labor has aggressively pursued a strategy to destroy our green spaces by flooding suburbs with apartments and townhouses while failing to enforce existing measures to protect consumers from dodgy builders.
"It's disappointing that it has taken an election for this tired old government to move."