Levy on builders ‘an option’ as QBCC faces overhaul: De Brenni

Queensland’s building regulator faces major reforms, and the Government isn’t ruling out the industry paying for them.

A levy could be slapped on medium and large construction firms to pay for the expanding operations of the Queensland Building and Construction Commission, which faces a widespread overhaul of its governance.

The review of the operations of the QBCC, authored by Jim Varghese, issues 17 recommendations to improve transparency, minimise conflicts of interest and provide stable funding to the organisation as its workload grows.

Concerns about the governance of the state’s building watchdog, reported by The Courier-Mail, prompted the State Government to launch the review in November.

Mr Varghese revealed he had been “inundated with strong views, anger, frustration and suggestions for improvement”, but said his review was a measured one which wouldn’t air peoples’ grievances with the organisation.

“The last thing anybody wants is just another review, or more dramatically, a call for a royal commission,” he said.

“I do not see any value in passing judgment on current or former employees of the QBCC, stakeholders, complainants and media.”

Author of the QBCC review Jim Varghese

Housing and Public Works Minister Mick de Brenni welcomed the review and said the government was already working to implement Mr Varghese’s recommendations – which included the prioritisation of establishing a sustainable funding model which included a fixed revenue base, possibly a levy.

Mr de Brenni said the government was considering how to act on the recommendation.

“What I want to make very clear is that we don’t support options that will increase or impose a cost on small business construction firms,” he said.

However, when questioned if that pledge would extend to medium and large construction businesses, Mr de Brenni was less clear.

“There’s a number of options available for government to consider, but we will consider the implementation of those in consultation with industry,” he said.

The lack of clarification could cause concern for medium and large construction firms – coming one week after Treasurer Cameron Dick insisted new taxes on businesses were not a broken promise because he did not mention the word business when making the pledge.

Perceived conflicts of interest with the existing Queensland Building Commission board would also be addressed by downsizing the number of positions and removing all directors when their appointments expire later this year, Mr de Brenni said.

An independent mediation, resolution and review unit will also be established within the regulator to improve customer experience while its Home Warranty Scheme, the only one of its kind in Australia, will be removed from the QBCC and placed in another department to avoid future conflict of interest risks.

Queensland Public Works Minister Mick de Brenni speaks during Question Time at Parliament House in Brisbane. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Opposition public works spokesman Tim Mander criticised Mr de Brenni for sitting on the report for four weeks before releasing it, “hoping it will get lost in the wash” of the Coaldrake report.

Mr Mander said it was “disconcerting” the minister would not rule out the tax on medium and large businesses.

“Minister de Brenni today has not ruled out a levy being placed on small and medium sized businesses, building companies, who at the moment are struggling with so many different factors in the industry,” he said.

He said the report offered no insight into ministerial intervention in the QBCC and said critics of the organisation would be frustrated at the three-year timeline to implement some of Mr Varghese’s recommendations.

“The problem and the dysfunction of the QBCC is here and now and people want results as soon as possible,” Mr Mander said.

Queensland Building and Construction CEO Anissa Levy welcomed the report, which she said would offer renewal following “difficult times”.

“Every organisation has an opportunity for improvement,” she said.

“I welcome the recommendations to help continue us on that journey towards becoming an even more efficient and effective regulator.”

Mr de Brenni defended failing to provide an unqualified acceptance of the recommendations like the Premier had done with the Coaldrake report.

He said several of Mr Varghese’s recommendations required detailed business cases to be undertaken.