Unlicensed builder fined $25,000 after being taken to court by the QBCC

A man who pretended to be a builder and demanded a large upfront payment has been fined $25,000 – becoming the QBCC’s third successful prosecution in recent weeks.

QBCC inspectors conducting audits on worksites

A man who has never held a Queensland Building and Construction Commission licence has been fined $25,000 after being convicted of three offences in the Brisbane Magistrates Court.

Stephen John Azzopardi was found guilty of pretending to be a QBCC licensee, unlawfully carrying out building work and demanding and receiving an excess deposit from an Indooroopilly homeowner, in charges brought by the regulator.

Azzopardi, who was not present in court, was also ordered to pay the QBCC’s professional costs of $1861.70.

Azzopardi is the third individual prosecuted by the QBCC for illegal building related activities in recent weeks.

To date this year, the QBCC has had outcomes in 20 prosecutions against individuals and companies, resulting in more than $306,000 in fines, costs and compensation.

QBCC Commissioner Anissa Levy says the latest prosecution should serve as yet another warning for anyone considering flouting the law.

“We know most people do the right thing, but this latest conviction should be a wake-up call for anyone considering undertaking illegal building activities,’’ she says.

“If you fake being a QBCC licensee, or you are not appropriately licensed to perform building work, or you take excessive deposits from a homeowner, you will face the prospect of prosecution.”

Commissioner Levy implored home and property owners to do all their checks before

engaging in building work.

“The QBCC urges consumers to always use the free licence check on the QBCC website to

confirm that the person they are dealing with is appropriately licensed,” she says.

“Homeowners should not pay excessive deposits, or pay ahead of time and can obtain

information about maximum allowable deposit amounts from the QBCC website.”

QBCC Commissioner Anissa Levy.

Patently obvious

Clinical-stage biotechnology company Vaxxas has expanded its global intellectual property portfolio to 42 patents as the non-needle vaccination pioneer proceeds with a $100m capital raising for clinical trials.

Emerging out of the University of Queensland about 11 years ago the IUP expansion will support its exclusive claim to manufacture and sell its proprietary vaccination technology, the high-density microarray patch in the UUS, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Vaxxas’ patent portfolio covers all significant proprietary aspects of the company’s vaccine delivery platform and products.

Vaxxas is raising $100m to fund future clinical trials of its needle-free vaccination technology in the US Europe, Asia and Australia.

The latest patent issued to Vaxxas in November 2024 covers the specific design and use of the HD-MAP and applicator technology for vaccine delivery to the skin in the United States.

Vaxxas CEO David Hoey says the company is aiming to transform the vaccine market by improving the performance of vaccines and reducing the economic and logistic challenges typically associated with needle-and-syringe vaccination.

“The growing breadth of our patent portfolio protects our exclusive use of the technologies necessary to achieve this goal, as well as freely manufacture and sell our products at commercial scale and in a safe and regulatory compliant manner,” he says.

Vaxxas is scaling up to manufacture and distribute the world’s first commercially available vaccine patches from its global headquarters and state of the art biomedical facility in Hamilton in Brisbane inner eastern suburbs.

Vaxxas’ HD-MAP technology has completed five successful Phase I clinical trials involving over 500 participants with vaccines that address some of the world’s biggest health challenges including COVID-19, flu, and measles and rubella.

Vaxxas is currently conducting its first US IND-enabled Phase I clinical study for a pre-pandemic influenza vaccine involving 258 participants, with funding from the United States Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.