Lee wants ACT govt action on construction company collapses

Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee said the territory's policy settings were stifling the construction industry and creating higher costs for businesses.

"The construction industry employs over 20,000 people and supports over 6500 local businesses," she said.

"Instead of supporting this important industry, [Chief Minister] Andrew Barr has instead chosen to strangle the industry with even more burdensome regulation."

Ms Lee will call on the government to implement "comprehensive regulatory impact statements for all new legislation which involve compliance costs for businesses".

The Liberals leader also wants all current regulation referred to the government's better regulation taskforce to assess the current compliance costs and regulatory burden on small businesses.

Ms Lee will make the call as part of a motion set to be debated in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday afternoon.

There has been a string of building company collapses in the territory recently, with four businesses going bust within the space of a month. The companies are Project Coordination, Rork Projects, Cubitt's Granny Flats and Home Extensions and Voyager Projects.

Well-established company, PBS Building, also entered into administration last year.

The collapse of the companies has left millions of dollars owed to creditors in the ACT, including local subcontractors and suppliers.

"With millions of dollars owed to creditors in the ACT our local subcontractors and suppliers have been severely impacted and the dream of homeownership for thousands of Canberrans is now in tatters," Ms Lee said.

"This is the livelihoods of thousands of Canberrans which is now at risk. We have heard the stories showing hard-working small businesses owed tens of thousands of dollars, some hundreds of thousands of dollars as a result of these companies collapsing.

"Many of these small businesses will not be able to wear these losses and will have no choice but to close down. The effects of the collapse of these businesses will have a flow-on effect to other contractors throughout the ACT."

Australia is on track for its worst period of business collapses in recent years and construction companies are dominating the figures.

Ms Lee's motion will also call on the ACT government to ensure it meets its obligations to pay contractors within the specified timeframes for contracts and to increase funding for skills and training in the upcoming territory budget.