Government branded ‘elitist and out of touch’

The government is fighting friendly fire to get its plan to make university a criteria for being a registered builder.

A MEMBER of the Territory Labor cabinet has raised doubts about a government plan that would make university qualifications a condition of obtaining commercial building registration. Revealed exclusively in yesterday’s NT News, critics of the plan say it will exclude builders with many years experience in favour of those with minimal experience and a university diploma. The government has identified two options around building registration reform, the first of which includes obtaining a Diploma of Building and Construction and the second a Certificate IV in Building and Construction.

Minister Chansey Paech said “historically” the pathway to building and construction jobs was through apprenticeships. Himself a former horticulture apprentice, Mr Paech said the government should proceed with caution.

“Practical experience is the best training you’re going to get when you’re out on site. “I don’t want to see where we make it hard to get young Territorians into areas where they can develop skills.

“Many of those people who have finished those apprenticeships have gone on to run major businesses and companies have done an outstanding job,” he said.

“I’m very confident in the level of skills that are provided and the training that’s provided here in the Territory. “I’ll work through those once I get more detail at hand.”

MasterBuilders NT executive director David Malone is critical of the changes and the government’s consultation rollout, saying the government has already made up its mind about the changes.

“Licensing should be about ‘can you build’? and ‘do you know what you are doing’? “The focus should be on practice backed by theory.

“Instead, we see a model tied to diplomas and degrees. Tradies will shortly need to ‘prove’ how their knowledge and experience gained over a career compares to those pieces of paper.” Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro described the government as “elitist and out of touch”.

“How the Gunner government thinks that a 21-yearold fresh out of university can bring more to the table than someone with 40-years experience in the industry is absolutely beyond me,” she said.

“We will be working closely with MasterBuilders NT and looking very closely at what the government is proposing but it shows how elitist and out of touch they are.

“This is a blow to our construction industry and for every aspiring tradie coming up through the ranks who was hoping to have a long and prosperous career in construction in the Territory and is now shaking their head and wondering what type of leadership at the top they’ve got and whether or not their career has just been canned.”

Jason Jones, managing director of Rusca Developments, says the current system requiring a Cert IV “should stay the course”.

“I think it is too far to go to university. I think the Cert IV and having that building experience is really important.

“I concur with (MasterBuilders NT) Dave Malone that having someone who’s had a short amount of experience and university time to then come out and become a registered builder I think is going beyond where we need to be.”

TRADIE UNI PLAN UNDER FIRE

PLANS to introduce licensing for commercial contractors will sideline apprentice-trained tradesmen in favour of university training and a tertiary qualification, according to a leading construction industry figure.

The NT government has entered a ‘consultation’ process as part of building regulation reform, including the introduction of commercial builder registration and continuous professional development.

But MasterBuilders NT, representing the commercial building sector, says the government’s proposed changes will freeze out builders with years of experience and replace them with tertiary-trained newbies.

The Territory government last week released a consultation paper on the changes but despite ministers doing a number of media events, no announcement was made nor was a media release issued by the relevant minister or department.

MasterBuilders NT chief executive David Malone said not only were the proposed changes damaging to the industry, the government had failed to properly consult with the sector.

“The level of consultation seems to be limited to an ‘offer to stakeholders to be briefed’,” he said.

“It’s the usual sneaky way that the Territory government does business today.

“For whatever reason, they are terrified or disinterested or both, in explaining what they are looking to do.”

Mr Malone said the proposed changes create additional uncertainty as commercial building emerges from a post-2017 construction recession and more than two-years of Covid-19 uncertainty.

“The model of licensing that government proposes closes the door on virtually every tradie, anyone without an advanced diploma or degree,” he said.

Master Builders NT executive director David Malone.

“They simply can’t progress their careers or grow their businesses under this model.

“So, its giant slap for 13,000 people currently working in our industry today and the 1000 young men and women currently doing their apprenticeships in the NT.

“It will see the crazy world where a 23-year-old, with a diploma and three years industry experience, can build your high-rise but the person who has built dozens over a lifetime is excluded – unless they quit their job and go back to uni and do a course not yet available in the Northern Territory.”

Mr Malone said numbers on the government’s reference committee were stacked against an outcome that favoured trades trained builders.

“We argued black and blue about these points in the reference committee,” he said.

“But it only had one commercial builder on it who was our representative – and he was up against a preconceived position.

“We told them we would argue against their model, but they just went ahead anyway.”

The government says the Building Advisory Committee released two options after industry consultation this month.

The first proposes a single category of residential contractor and three categories of commercial contractor, including a category for those who only undertake fit-out and alterations in commercial buildings.

The second option proposes a single category of residential contractor and two categories of commercial contractor, with different levels of qualification for first and second tier builders.

Infrastructure Minister Eva Lawler said there was a “transition” process.

“Under the proposed reform options, existing qualified builders will not need to gain additional qualifications and will simply need to transition their registration. This won’t be difficult and will underpin confidence in the industry,” she said.

“One of the key changes proposed in the building reform agenda is creating new categories of registration for commercial builders. Consultation is about how to bring us into line with other jurisdictions. Consultation will close April 21.

“Under this proposed reform, builders who construct buildings such as offices, shops, warehouses and carparks in the Northern Territory will need to be registered, as they should. Registration ensures builders have the appropriate qualifications and experience and no one could argue this is not important. We must give confidence to consumers and reinforce trust in the industry.”

CASE STUDY: NEIL SUNNERS

IN the 2000s, Neil Sunners and his company Sunbuild built Evolution – at 33-storeys and 100 metres the Territory’s tallest building. Under proposed changes to the Territory’s building laws Neil Sunners may not have been able to complete the engineering feat.

“If I hadn’t been working in the industry or been building for the past three years I wouldn’t be able to be a builder,” Mr Sunners said.

Under Government changes, builder qualifications will be raised to diploma level which the industry argues will hit experienced Darwin builders who don’t have a university qualification.

Neil Sunners, who didn’t go to university, completed a carpenter and joiner apprenticeship and an advance certificate in building after hours in his own time.

He has been in Darwin since 1984 and acknowledges the need for the construction industry to be beyond reproach – but the changes proposed by Government miss the point.

Development in Nightcliff

“There are a lot of people in the industry running successful businesses, and have been for a number of years, who step back for whatever reason and they may not be able to go back into the business if this academic approach to building licenses is taken up,” he said.

“We are getting a lot of people who come through universities into our industry and they take a lot of effort to be an effective resource within our industry because they do not understand the practical side of construction. It’s a major side of construction.”

In it’s consultation paper ‘Building Contractor Registrations, the Government says to help the industry adjust to any new registration requirements, transitional arrangements (grandfathering) will be introduced.

This will ‘allow existing builders to obtain a registration within three years from commencement based on their building experience without them needing to obtain a new qualification. This places a higher emphasis on the experience of builders over qualifications.’

“I’ve just employed a guy whose been building all his life with other companies of a reasonable size and he’s taken four years of leave effectively because his wife’s had health issues and he’s effectively taken leave to care for her,” Mr Sunners said.

“He’s a carpenter and joiner and he wouldn’t have a chance to get the license. If somebody’s got experience we need to take more into consideration than he’s been out of the industry for a few years.

“If people leave university, they need two or three years of experience in the construction sector of a similar level before they should be qualified.

“Academics are involved in this process and it’s a knee-jerk reaction to some issues that we’ve had in our industry. I’ve been an advocate pushing for builders’ licenses since I got here in 1984. Back then you could build a 30-storey building and there were no requirements.

“I think that’s completely wrong. The key to this is Government is trying to get the industry to manage itself through self regulation and they’re trying to get rid of the builder who might hurt the community.

“That’s fair enough but you’re never going to change that unless you have a character assessment. That’s really where they’re missing the whole point.

“People who go to university can also be shady and not do the right thing. If a builder’s not going to do the right thing, university’s not going to teach them.”