VBA – TRANSPARENCY A THROWAWAY LINE

SPHERES OF INFLUENCE

The recent Herald Sun article by Suzan Delibasic about the shoddy building practitioners

quoted the VBA director of operations, Mr David Brockman, talking about the VBA policy to provide transparency to consumers about compliance & disciplinary and prosecution actions taken “that the community can make informed decisions when engaging practitioners.”

Like our last Regulator BLOG, the article raises the following transparency questions about the building surveyor mentioned:

1. How is transparency provided if the offences occurred between 2016-18, and

there is no publication of any action taken by the VBA until five years later, in

August 2022? How does that offer “transparency of any offences” to the

community between 2016 and 2022?

2. Since the initial round of violations, are there any other complaints,

investigations or breaches pending within the VBA that are not disclosed or

remain hidden from the community?

3. How many consumers used this building surveyor in 2016-2022, unaware of

these serious breaches of approving flammable and combustible cladding?

4. What was the financial impact and cost to the community of those regulatory

violations mentioned?

5. Where in the most recent annual report does it name any of the practitioners

noted in the Herald Sun article?

The delays are extreme given the grave nature of flammable and combustible cladding.

We are following up and have written to Mr Brockman with a copy to the Minister for (Building) & Planning, Ms Lizzie Blandthorn MP, for an update on the five questions raised.

Below is our letter.

BCA LETTER TO EDDY & BLANDTHORN 29.09.2022.pdf

Download PDF • 157KB

Fiona O’Hehir, the Team & our Community

Having encountered many of these issues, we want to share experiences to assist others in avoiding what we did not. We are not lawyers, nor do we give advice.