Mr WOOD - 2006-08-24
Eugene Scaturchio started work in the Northern Territory in 1956. He started building for himself in 1961, building his family home; 10 flats for Otto Finocchiaro; St Vincent de Paul in Stuart Park; 24 flats for the Housing Commission; 10 houses for the railway in Parap; nine units in Voyager Street; the Roper River Hospital; and 10 homes at Ngukurr; Adelaide River Police Station and the house; the National Mutual Building in Palm Court in Cavenagh Street; kitchen close-in at the Italian Club - and on and on we go.
I seek leave to table the list, Madam Speaker.
Leave granted.
Mr WOOD: Mr Scaturchio was recently knocked back on his application to have an unrestricted builder’s licence because he did not have the three years recent experience required under the legislation.
Do you believe that a builder who has been building houses and office blocks from 1956 up until over - that is 50 years - could not remember how to build a house? Will you ensure Mr Scaturchio gets a licence, and some commonsense is built into the act?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nelson for the question. This is the first time that I have heard of this particular issue of Mr Scaturchio. I will come back to this particular case the member for Nelson has raised. I will comment more broadly about the builders’ licensing and home warranty insurance that this government has introduced.
It was introduced by this government to protect people buying and building houses. Over a long period here in the Territory, we had building companies going bust and leaving people - sometimes young couples - with their whole life savings gone, the company’s has gone into liquidation, and the people have lost everything. That occurred for a long time. I can remember, probably over the last 15 years, there have been at least four building companies that have gone bust.
However, it was this government that did something. We have a home warranty insurance system and a building licensing system to address this very issue - something the previous CLP government did not do. It is a difficult exercise because you have a licensing system that is tied to a home warranty insurance system, when the insurers are looking to the licensing system to see if those who are being licensed are insurable. That is another part of it - there are going to be some people with difficulties. There will be people who will miss out.
The government did not say: ‘These are the rules; everyone has to come up to this mark and those who do not miss out’. We consulted for 18 months, nearly two years, with the building industry on these issues. The changes that were brought in were largely at the request of the building industry. There was a body called a Construction Industry Reference Group that had membership of organisations like the HIA, the TCA, engineers, a whole range of people involved in the building industry on a day to day basis, year in and year out. The criteria that had been applied, both for restricted and unrestricted licenses, are the criteria that were requested by industry.
What I and the government wanted was a fair and flexible system that would allow those people who had been in the industry for a long time, who were currently builders, to be licensed. We were not looking for academic qualifications. What we were looking for were three certificates of occupancy in the last three to five years. Given the state of the Northern Territory building and construction industry at the present time, if someone has not completed three buildings in the last thee years, then they will not be licensed. I am not casting any slurs against Mr Scaturchio, it is a very famous name in the Territory, as, this particular individual has been involved in building a lot of history in the Territory. At the end of the day, what we were asking for were three certificates of occupancy in the last five years. There are two categories of licence; one is restricted, which is to do with building houses and the member for Nelson mentioned unrestricted, which is three storeys and above. As the years have rolled on, the Building Code of Australia has become increasingly more sophisticated and complicated. That is what we asked: if someone has built three of these buildings in the last three to five years, essentially, they will be licensed.
With the specific case that the member for Nelson has raised, I am more than happy to have representations from you and Mr Scaturchio directly. There have been a relatively small number of people who have come to see me on builders licensing, considering that the Licensing Board received over 750 applications. To date, approximately 300 people have been licensed as restricted builders, and approximately 100 people or companies have been licensed as unrestricted builders. The Licensing Board has been working very hard. They have tried to be fair, consistent and flexible. I feel for someone who may have missed out and I am more than willing to take that case. I am not going to interfere directly with the decisions of the board, but I can certainly ask some questions on Mr Scaturchio’s behalf.
I seek leave to table the list, Madam Speaker.
Leave granted.
Mr WOOD: Mr Scaturchio was recently knocked back on his application to have an unrestricted builder’s licence because he did not have the three years recent experience required under the legislation.
Do you believe that a builder who has been building houses and office blocks from 1956 up until over - that is 50 years - could not remember how to build a house? Will you ensure Mr Scaturchio gets a licence, and some commonsense is built into the act?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nelson for the question. This is the first time that I have heard of this particular issue of Mr Scaturchio. I will come back to this particular case the member for Nelson has raised. I will comment more broadly about the builders’ licensing and home warranty insurance that this government has introduced.
It was introduced by this government to protect people buying and building houses. Over a long period here in the Territory, we had building companies going bust and leaving people - sometimes young couples - with their whole life savings gone, the company’s has gone into liquidation, and the people have lost everything. That occurred for a long time. I can remember, probably over the last 15 years, there have been at least four building companies that have gone bust.
However, it was this government that did something. We have a home warranty insurance system and a building licensing system to address this very issue - something the previous CLP government did not do. It is a difficult exercise because you have a licensing system that is tied to a home warranty insurance system, when the insurers are looking to the licensing system to see if those who are being licensed are insurable. That is another part of it - there are going to be some people with difficulties. There will be people who will miss out.
The government did not say: ‘These are the rules; everyone has to come up to this mark and those who do not miss out’. We consulted for 18 months, nearly two years, with the building industry on these issues. The changes that were brought in were largely at the request of the building industry. There was a body called a Construction Industry Reference Group that had membership of organisations like the HIA, the TCA, engineers, a whole range of people involved in the building industry on a day to day basis, year in and year out. The criteria that had been applied, both for restricted and unrestricted licenses, are the criteria that were requested by industry.
What I and the government wanted was a fair and flexible system that would allow those people who had been in the industry for a long time, who were currently builders, to be licensed. We were not looking for academic qualifications. What we were looking for were three certificates of occupancy in the last three to five years. Given the state of the Northern Territory building and construction industry at the present time, if someone has not completed three buildings in the last thee years, then they will not be licensed. I am not casting any slurs against Mr Scaturchio, it is a very famous name in the Territory, as, this particular individual has been involved in building a lot of history in the Territory. At the end of the day, what we were asking for were three certificates of occupancy in the last five years. There are two categories of licence; one is restricted, which is to do with building houses and the member for Nelson mentioned unrestricted, which is three storeys and above. As the years have rolled on, the Building Code of Australia has become increasingly more sophisticated and complicated. That is what we asked: if someone has built three of these buildings in the last three to five years, essentially, they will be licensed.
With the specific case that the member for Nelson has raised, I am more than happy to have representations from you and Mr Scaturchio directly. There have been a relatively small number of people who have come to see me on builders licensing, considering that the Licensing Board received over 750 applications. To date, approximately 300 people have been licensed as restricted builders, and approximately 100 people or companies have been licensed as unrestricted builders. The Licensing Board has been working very hard. They have tried to be fair, consistent and flexible. I feel for someone who may have missed out and I am more than willing to take that case. I am not going to interfere directly with the decisions of the board, but I can certainly ask some questions on Mr Scaturchio’s behalf.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016