Victorian Planning Minister Richard Wynne to push for nationwide ban on combustible cladding

Days after a fire ripped through a Spencer St tower, the Victorian government will lead a push for a nationwide ban on the combustible cladding.

Victoria will push for a nationwide ban on combustible cladding in the wake of the Spencer St tower fire.

Planning Minister Richard Wynne will raise the issue at a building ministers’ forum to be held in Hobart on Friday.

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“We’ve seen how quickly fires spread up buildings fitted with combustible cladding and we have a responsibility to stamp out these substandard building materials,” he said.

“Victoria has pushed for a national response to flammable cladding ever since the 2014 Lacrosse fire but has been met with frustrating resistance from the Federal Government.”

The Neo200 building in the CBD was evacuated early Monday morning when a discarded cigarette butt caused a cladding fire.

The balcony on the 26th floor of Neo200 building. Picture: Metropolitan Fire Brigade

Fire crews in the aftermath of the fire. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Residents may not be able to return for up to two weeks.

Opposition planning spokesman Tim Smith said that Mr Wynne’s number one priority was to remove the “dangerous, flammable cladding from existing buildings around Victoria”.

“There are 360 buildings in the most concerning category from the Andrews Labor Government’s cladding audit, and yet they still have not guaranteed that every single resident in those buildings has been informed that their home is at risk,” he said.

Mr Wynne said the government had led the country in taking action against combustible cladding.