Tuesday, 18 June 2024

Home building industry

James NEWBURY (Brighton) (14:37): My question is for the Assistant Treasurer. With over 700 ‍domestic building insurance claims unresolved for more than a year, how much longer will Victorian families have to wait for fair compensation from the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority?

Danny PEARSON (Essendon – Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Assistant Treasurer, Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC) (14:38): I thank the member for his question. I think at the outset it is worthwhile just understanding that we are in this position because of some of the most egregious and deeply offensive behaviour perpetrated by corporate Australia I think the nation has ever seen. You have had instances where you had developers –

John Pesutto interjected.

Danny PEARSON: It is interesting, the interjection from the Leader of the Opposition. You never, ever attack –

The SPEAKER: Order! Through the Chair. Leader of the Opposition, I ask you to desist. I would like you to desist from interjecting.

Danny PEARSON: Speaker, the Liberal Party have never once in this place come in and attacked the awful behaviour of some of the builders –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, this is an important question on behalf of many genuine victims, and I would ask the minister to come to the question and deal with the substance of the question.

The SPEAKER: The Assistant Treasurer will come back to the question.

Danny PEARSON: The issue here is that the Porter Davis collapse was the single biggest collapse of a builder in the state’s history, and that has had a profound impact in relation to the VMIA’s ability to respond because of what can only be described as egregious behaviour by rogue developers who took tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars of money from hardworking Victorians and failed to take out an insurance policy. That is why we are in this situation.

The issue here is, in relation to the specific question that the member asked, that in the 2022–23 financial year – and that was the most recent tabled annual report – 97 per cent of deposit-only claims had an offer made within two months, 87 per cent of incomplete work claims had an offer made within six months after receiving appropriate documentation, with the rest made within 12 months, and 97 ‍per cent of defect claims had an offer within 12 months. One of the challenges here that we are dealing with is that from the VMIA’s perspective they have to establish whether a person has got a –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, with respect, the minister is referring to old data, not the question, which related to 700 victims whose claims remain unresolved.

The SPEAKER: The Assistant Treasurer was being relevant to the question.

Danny PEARSON: In the case where you have got an instance like Porter Davis, where you have egregious behaviour where an insurance policy has not been taken out, the VMIA needs to establish a relationship with the individuals involved. You then have to turn around and you have to go out and do an assessment in terms of the status of the build. You then have to try and do the analysis and work out what the right way and the best way forward is. The issue here is that we have had to deal with appalling behaviour. We have had to deal with an event that the VMIA has never experienced before in terms of the size and scale and scope.

What I would say to every one of the individuals involved is I am deeply saddened that they find themselves in this situation because of what can only be described as egregious and deeply offensive behaviour. The VMIA is working tirelessly to try and deal with these issues, and what I would say is on this side of the house we stand on the side of hardworking Victorians and consumers in relation to these issues.

James NEWBURY (Brighton) (14:41): Why has the Assistant Treasurer allowed the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority to drag out the claims process, resulting in families bearing thousands in out-of-pocket expenses due to rising building costs?

Danny PEARSON (Essendon – Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Assistant Treasurer, Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC) (14:42): Again, we are in this situation because of dodgy builders. Dodgy building companies have done the wrong thing, and that is why this has happened. In relation to these matters, the VMIA assesses each and every one of these claims, as is appropriate, and it is my expectation that the VMIA deals with these matters as quickly and as properly and as appropriately as it can. But again, as I have said, where you have got instances where there is no relationship between the VMIA and the customers because these dodgy developers have failed to take out an insurance policy, this is why –

Members interjecting.

Danny PEARSON: Look, you can defend your spivs in the property sector. You can defend these people. On this side of the house we stand on the side of consumers, and that is why we are working tirelessly every day to make sure we deal with these matters appropriately.