Media Statements
Joint Statement - Victorians failed by Labor's broken building watchdog
Joint Statement – Victorians pay the price for Labor’s housing failures
Evan Mulholland, Shadow Minister for Home Ownership and Housing Affordability
James Newbury, Shadow Minister for Planning
Victorians have suffered ‘‘severe financial, emotional and physical distress’’ due to failings of the Allan Labor Government’s building watchdog, a new report has revealed.
For a decade, Labor’s Victorian Building Authority (VBA) turned a blind eye to rotten behaviour within the construction sector, which has had led to thousands of Victorians being ripped off.
A combination of a toxic workplace culture, poor management, building inspections being conducted via FaceTime and repeated failures to take appropriate enforcement actions has allowed shonky builders to escape consequences for years.
The Victorian Liberals and Nationals called for an “urgent and comprehensive” review of the VBA back in May 2023.
Furthermore, since early 2023, multiple builder collapses have exposed the VBA’s failure to ensure compliance with compulsory domestic building insurance, which left homebuyers facing the prospect of losing their house deposits, at no fault of their own.
Only through the advocacy of the Victorian Liberals and Nationals was a support scheme extended several times to provide the financial protection these households should have had access to all along.
Shadow Minister for Planning, James Newbury, said: “Under Labor, Victorian households have been ripped off and let down for a decade.
“Victorians deserve a watchdog with teeth that protects homebuyers, renovators and homebuilders and which restores confidence to the residential construction sector.
“Today, instead of taking responsibility and apologising for the dodgy conduct that has flourished under its watch, the Allan Labor Government is shamefully hiding behind a public servant. The Premier owes victims a personal apology.”
Shadow Minister for Home Ownership and Housing Affordability, Evan Mulholland, said: “This report lays bare the shocking regulatory failures that left families facing financial ruin and dreams of home ownership in tatters.
“A new name and a new logo won’t fix the systemic problems within Victoria’s construction sector under the Allan Labor Government.
“Labor’s 10 years of failure and mismanagement of the building industry has turned the great Australian dream into the great Labor nightmare.
“Labor cannot manage money, cannot manage the construction sector and Victorians are paying the price.”
Evan Mulholland, Shadow Minister for Home Ownership and Housing Affordability
James Newbury, Shadow Minister for Planning