Wednesday, 5 March 2025

 Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Minister for Housing and Building, Minister for Development Victoria and Precincts) (12:34): I am pleased to update the chamber on some really important reforms that we are making to support Victorian homebuyers. These reforms will give Victorians peace of mind as they make the largest purchase and economic investment of their lives. We are proud to be a government that is not only building more homes for Victorians but also delivering a new building watchdog, the Building and Plumbing Commission. This will have tough new enforcement powers to order the rectification of defects. We are establishing new developer bonds set at 2 per cent of the cost of the building, just like in New South Wales, which will work just like a rental bond to ensure that there is no excuse not to fix defects. Like the New South Wales jurisdiction, we are starting the journey to transition that bond scheme to a 10-year liability insurance scheme to cover apartment owners. We are also establishing a first-resort insurance scheme so that home owners can make a claim on a building issue straightaway and do not have to wait for a builder to become insolvent, to die or to disappear. We are seeking feedback on new reforms to introduce building manuals for apartment buildings and proposing more mandatory inspections during construction.

These reforms are really important good news for Victorians who are looking to buy their first home, and they are a really important test for every single member of this Parliament, because we have heard too many excuses for too long from others about why we cannot build more homes and apartments. While we build them, you block them. This is where I would be inviting the opposition to put aside their excuses, back in Victorian consumers and homebuyers and support reforms as we introduce them. I would also challenge them to walk away from backing dodgy builders over those Victorians who risk losing everything so that they can run one more scare campaign. The work goes on. We are proud to support consumers.