Released 09/10/2017
The Building Ministers Forum today agreed to continue to take strong action on the unsafe use of Aluminum Composite Panels (ACPs), in line with the work the ACT Government is already doing to address the issue, Minister for Planning and Land Management Mick Gentleman said today.
“The use of ACPs was the key item of discussion at the BMF held in Brisbane today, following the identification of the need to check these panels are being used appropriately in Australia, including the ACT,” Minister Gentleman said.
“Ministers agreed, in recognition of the public safety concerns and risk arising around non compliant use of cladding, to use their available laws and powers to prevent the use of ACPs for new buildings of certain higher risk classes of building, while longer term measures are developed. While supporting my colleagues today, I continue to have a high degree of confidence in the safety of buildings in the ACT.
“As part of the ACT response, we have a cross-government working group working on an audit of the safety of the buildings in the ACT. All ACT Government owned and tenanted buildings are being audited for non-complying use of ACPs and further work will focus on private properties. The ACT Government is now calling on industry groups to work assist in identifying potentially affected buildings.
Minister Gentleman also continued to advocate for further work across Australia to address the risks of asbestos in building materials and outlined the ACT’s work in removing risks associated with loose-fill asbestos insulation.
“Out of the unfortunate ‘Mr Fluffy’ situation, the ACT has developed considerable expertise in managing asbestos removal and demolition of houses with asbestos.. Today, I offered our assistance to other jurisdictions in tackling any asbestos issues they have,” Minister Gentleman said.
The Ministers also discussed potential minimum standards for accessible, universally designed housing and decided to undertake a national Regulatory Impact Assessment.
“The ACT Government has been a strong advocate for national work to increase the availability of housing with accessibility features or that can be more readily adapted to be accessible. The ACT is providing leadership in this area by kicking off this work, establishing policy parameters for consideration by my colleagues in other jurisdictions.” Minister Gentleman said.
The official BMF Commuique will be published at - https://industry.gov.au/industry/IndustrySectors/buildingandconstruction/Pages/default.aspx.
- Statement ends -
Mick Gentleman, MLA | Media Releases