Releasing cladding list ‘a risk to state security’

Andrews government warns against releasing a list of flammable buildings, despite publishing a list of affected hospitals.

The Andrews government says publishing a list of buildings with flammable cladding would “damage the security” of Victoria. Picture: Penny Stephens

The Andrews government says that releasing a list of buildings with highly flammable cladding would “damage the security of the state of Victoria”, despite its health department publishing a list of hospitals clad with the same dangerous material.

The Victorian Building Authority this week cited the potential for arson and terror attacks in refusing a freedom of information request to make a list public, prompting the tenants’ union to accuse the organisation of leaving renter safety at the mercy of landlords.

Coalition planning spokesman Tim Smith said he took the VBA’s point regarding the danger of publicising the building’s locations, but highlighted a “double standard” regarding hospitals.

“I’ve been respectful of that, except for the fact that they did publish the list of hospitals that had cladding … I think it was 10 hospitals, and that’s still on the Health Department’s website,” Mr Smith said.

“I take their point with regards to arson and terrorism, but they still can’t guarantee that every resident, living in an apartment complex that’s clad in dangerous material, knows that they’re living in a dangerous building. They can’t guarantee that.”

Mr Smith accused the VBA and the government of “bureaucratic buck passing” at the expense of community safety, saying combustible cladding was a “ticking time bomb”.

Following England’s deadly Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 and a 2014 blaze which saw fire race up 13 storeys of the Docklands Lacrosse building in 10 minutes, the Andrews government appointed a bipartisan cladding taskforce led by former Liberal premier Ted Baillieu and former Labor deputy premier John Thwaites.

Last month, after yet another dangerous cladding fire at Spencer Street’s Neo200 building, Mr Baillieu revealed 360 buildings which had been deemed high risk were receiving “maximum attention” from the VBA.

Victorian premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: Aaron Francis

After weeks of deliberations, the VBA this week refused a freedom of information request from The Australian for the list of high risk buildings, claiming “disclosure of the document could reasonably be expected to cause damage to the security of the State of Victoria.”

“The document you have requested … may … disclose the location of buildings with compromised fire resistance and an increased vulnerability to arson and terrorist offences,” a VBA spokeswoman said.

Tenants Victoria policy officer Natalie Rutherford said the VBA’s refusal to make the list public highlighted problems for tenants trying to find out about potential dangers in their homes.

“If landlords tell you nothing, you have no protection,” Ms Rutherford said.

“A tenant is at the mercy of their landlord, and that’s not something that should continue.”

A spokeswoman for Planning Minister Richard Wynne said the government was aware that a lot of renters lived in apartments, and that renters tended to move more often than owners.

“That’s why the VBA is working with owners corporations so there is regular, ongoing communication with tenants about fire safety,” the spokeswoman said.

“The government is also looking at how we can better communicate with tenants to minimise fire risk across all apartment buildings.”

Councils were this week stripped of their responsibility to remove cladding, with the VBA now overseeing the work.

This may take up to two years to complete and the government is under pressure to offer some kind of financial assistance for owners to make the changes.