Senate committee calls for urgent ban on dodgy cladding which fuelled Grenfell Tower tragedy

DODGY cladding used in London’s deadly Grenfell Tower must be urgently banned in Australia to prevent similar tragedies here, a Senate committee has declared.

DODGY cladding used in London’s deadly Grenfell Tower must be urgently banned in Australia to prevent similar tragedies here, a Senate committee has declared.

Shonky builders who ignore construction rules would also face huge fines and be banned from working on government projects under the proposed crackdown.

At least 80 people died when dodgy cladding fuelled a massive inferno in the London public housing block in June. It prompted an urgent Senate inquiry to investigate whether Australians were at risk, with similar material used in a Docklands apartment building fire in 2014.

The committee’s interim report, released last night, warned there was widespread concern about the use of questionable cladding and there had been “extensive delays” in toughening up building codes to improve safety.

FEARS GRENFELL COULD HAPPEN IN AUSTRALIA

The Lacrosse building fire in the Docklands in 2014. Picture: Supplied

It urged the Turnbull Government to ban the importation, sale and use of the offending polyethylene core aluminium composite as “a matter of urgency”.

The Federal Safety Commissioner also needed a major funding boost, the committee found, so it could carry out audits to ensure compliance with building standards.

Other recommendations included:

A NATIONAL licensing scheme including ongoing professional development for all workers in the construction industry.

BUILDING standards and codes made freely available after the committee was “dismayed” to learn builders had to pay “unreasonable sums of money” to figure out what they had to comply with.

APARTMENT residents to be covered by a national statutory duty of care to cover the discovery of nonconforming building materials.

Metropolitan Fire Brigade acting deputy chief officer Adam Dalrymple said the brigade had been disappointed in the “apparent lack of movement by regulators” since the Lacrosse fire in 2014, which he said could have killed hundreds of people.

“Lacrosse for us was a bit of [a] wake-up call. Since then I believe that regulators have been rubbing the sleep out of their eyes,” he told the Senate committee.

Master Builders Association of Victoria executive director Radley de Silva had also raised major concerns about registration requirements for subcontractors in Victoria.

“I do not have a building background, but I could walk out of here and put a belt on and call myself a subcontractor. But in other states and jurisdictions you are required to be registered,” he said.

In the wake of the Grenfell inferno, the Victorian Government established a taskforce to investigate the use of non-compliant cladding on buildings.

Twitter: @tminear