Estimates - CBOS - National Construction Code

Ms BURNET - Thank you very much, Chair, for that ruling. I love it. Now that your bill to permanently freeze the NCC (National Construction Code) updates in Tasmania, or the bill has passed without those, permanently freezing that, I want to ask about the budget of the Director of Building Control, who's responsible for administering NCC changes here in Tasmania.

Noting that we have a massive housing shortage here in Tasmania, I want to understand what the impact of the 50 per cent funding cuts for CBOS have on the director of building. What's their current budget? How many FTEs are employed in the fulfilment of the statutory role of the director of building? And what's going to happen to the number of FTEs when you get to 2027-28? 

Mr BARNETT - Thank you very much for the question. It's obviously in two parts, and you've made reference in your first part to the National Construction Code. And you've rightly noted that that's gone through the parliament in terms of an extension for 12 months. The government's plan was to cut the red tape, streamline the process and make it easier for business and the building construction sector to deliver homes faster and in a more affordable manner. That was opposed by Labor in the state parliament. It's not something that we support in terms of that opposition. And, frankly, it's now been recognised by the federal Labor government as a red tape quagmire, and they're putting it on hold at a federal level.

That's the first part of your question. You've made reference to the NCC, and I'm entitled to respond in a most strong and resolute way to say that we're all about supporting small business, we're all about cutting red tape and streamlining the process. And it's a great shame that that didn't proceed in the manner in which we intended. With respect to the second part of your question, that's best answered by the Director of Building Control, and I'll pass to the director, acting deputy secretary. 

Ms PEARCE - The response is probably a little bit more complex than that. So, the Director of Building Control's activities are funded from the Building Administration Fund, not from appropriation. And the fund goes to - because the Director of Building Control sits within Consumer, Building and Occupational Services, which holds a number of statutory hats, what we find is that there are a number of positions that are solely focused on building control matters. But then there are other positions that support it. So, for example, the business services area partially is funded out of the Building Administration Fund because that also supports the operation of the Director of Building Control, as does out of our Consumer Affairs area. That does some activities to support.

So, giving you a clear FTE of everything that goes to support the director is a bit difficult to give you. I can tell you that of the positions that purely undertake work on building standards, there are 17 positions. But as I say, there are many other positions that also undertake work to support the operations of the director