Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Master Builders NT CEO Ben Carter says registration reforms will force local builders with with decades of experience to now obtain academic qualifications for commercial projects

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Master Builders NT CEO Ben Carter says registration reforms will force local builders with with decades of experience to now obtain academic qualifications for commercial projects · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: As I mentioned a little earlier this morning, we do
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: know that there has been a bit of a shake
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: up when it comes to commercial builder registrations aiming to
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  Speaker 1: build confidence the government say in the local construction industry.
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  Speaker 1: The government said earlier in the week that twenty eight
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  Speaker 1: submissions were made on a consultation paper which they have
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  Speaker 1: then which have contributed to the development of a registration
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  Speaker 1: model when it comes to commercial builders. So under this model,
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  Speaker 1: builders wanting to construct commercial buildings such as a warehouse
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  Speaker 1: and offices are now going to be required to be
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  Speaker 1: registered as commercial builders, but jobs including renovations and alterations
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  Speaker 1: on existing buildings won't require commercial builder status apparently. But
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  Speaker 1: joining me in the studio to tell us a little
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  Speaker 1: bit more about the changes and what it is going
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  Speaker 1: to mean for the local construction industry is Ben Carter,
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  Speaker 1: who is indeed the CEO of Master Builders here in
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  Speaker 1: the territory. Good morning, Ben, how are you going? Not
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  Speaker 1: too bad? Now? Ben? Firstly talk through exactly what these
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  Speaker 1: changes are going to mean.
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  Speaker 2: Well, Katie, So the government is correct when it says
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  Speaker 2: that it's got a series of reforms that are targeted
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  Speaker 2: to what it says is inspiring confidence in the industry.
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  Speaker 2: What we would say is that it's about continuing confidence
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  Speaker 2: in the industry and the building environment because our members
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  Speaker 2: have been building the territory for decades successfully with no dramas,
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  Speaker 2: and the public we know has a great deal of
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  Speaker 2: confidence in us. The government's reforms are in line with
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  Speaker 2: other governments around Australia and so we don't oppose those
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  Speaker 2: reforms in principle. What we oppose is the way they've
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  Speaker 2: been implemented. The Government has proposed earlier this year licensing
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  Speaker 2: model which would force many many builders with decades of
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  Speaker 2: experience and improven track record of delivering trustworthy buildings to
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  Speaker 2: basically stop their business, stop running their businesses and go
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  Speaker 2: and get a Uni degree or a university diploma, which
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  Speaker 2: would take two years for a full time student. Part
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  Speaker 2: time would take four years at least. So we've been
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  Speaker 2: pleading with the government for months and months and months
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  Speaker 2: to have a parallel pathway so that so there can
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  Speaker 2: be an adpigheming pathway to a license to a commercial
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  Speaker 2: builder's license, but there also can be a system which
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  Speaker 2: recognizes the fact that many builders running commercial building businesses
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  Speaker 2: for decades with a proven track record of delivering safe
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  Speaker 2: and quality buildings would have to go back to UNI,
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  Speaker 2: which is not going to be.
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  Speaker 1: A good So then let me just get this straight.
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  Speaker 1: So what these changes are going to mean is say
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  Speaker 1: you've got a builder that's been operating here in the
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  Speaker 1: territory for thirty years that they're going to have to
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  Speaker 1: go back to university and those qualifications and that work
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  Speaker 1: experience that they've had for the last thirty years means
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  Speaker 1: diadley squat.
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  Speaker 2: So the government says there will be gone grandfather and
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  Speaker 2: provisions which only under their proposal go for a year,
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  Speaker 2: which will be inadequate. What they've also done, and what
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  Speaker 2: we've said is that their detail and their proposed method
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  Speaker 2: of grandfathering, which basically means that they'll give people some
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  Speaker 2: they'll try and take into account some of that experience,
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  Speaker 2: is in adequate and vague, and there will be many
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  Speaker 2: builders who will fail at who won't be able to
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  Speaker 2: demonstrate or comply with what that system is once it
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  Speaker 2: is actually announced, and they'll have to go back to union. Well,
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  Speaker 2: if they went to union in the first place, which
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  Speaker 2: many wouldn't have meeting, would have come through a vocational pathway.
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  Speaker 2: They would have done an apprenticeship they would have done
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  Speaker 2: and had a lot. They've had on the job experience
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  Speaker 2: on construction sites, day in and day out for thirty years,
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  Speaker 2: as you say, or forty or twenty or a decade,
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  Speaker 2: and they've had it. They've got a trusted track record
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  Speaker 2: of building trustworthy buildings and they're going to be forced
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  Speaker 2: to go that academic pathway.
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  Speaker 1: But the other thing, and I mean this in the
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  Speaker 1: most positive way, but within our construction sector, we've also
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  Speaker 1: got a lot of Italians and Greeks that have migrated
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  Speaker 1: to Australia and have been here for forty fifty years
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  Speaker 1: working in the construction industry, building buildings right around the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory. They built the Northern Territory with the local
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  Speaker 1: lauses after Cyclone Tracy. What's going to happen with those people?
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  Speaker 1: Do they need to go back to university?
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  Speaker 2: There are people in the industry who there are people
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  Speaker 2: now who are engaged by government to do major reports
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  Speaker 2: on our industry, who who are on committees, who are
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  Speaker 2: giants of industry and eminent territorians who could not qualify
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  Speaker 2: today or under these provisions for a builder's license, even
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  Speaker 2: though they have run, you know, major construction businesses and
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  Speaker 2: continue to do so many cases, so it will cause
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  Speaker 2: a lot of hack. These are real people, Katie, real
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  Speaker 2: people who are employing other real people. There's the v
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  Speaker 2: of work done in the territory is of today in
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  Speaker 2: construction for this year's three billion dollars, we are employing
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  Speaker 2: upwards of two thousand Territorians, providing opportunities for hundreds of apprentices.
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  Speaker 2: And the interesting thing is is that the Attorney General
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  Speaker 2: has previously said that that are vocational pathway is the
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  Speaker 2: way and an experienced pathway is the way to advance
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  Speaker 2: through the construction industry. But now they're endorsing this, well,
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  Speaker 2: they're trying to force this pathway on us.
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  Speaker 1: So, Ben, what are member saying to you right now
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  Speaker 1: as a result of this announcement being made throughout the week?
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  Speaker 1: What are they saying?
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  Speaker 2: Well, Katie, they have categorically rejected this the industry and
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  Speaker 2: Master Billi's members of categorically rejected this proposal when it
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  Speaker 2: was first made in April this year, and Master Biller
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  Speaker 2: has vigorously opposed it then since anna's been a radio
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  Speaker 2: silence from the government. And now they've rushed this out,
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  Speaker 2: well not rush, they've waited until one week before Christmas
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  Speaker 2: to rush this out. And that's what governments do when
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  Speaker 2: they know they're about to announce something that's deeply unpopular,
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  Speaker 2: and they want to mute the opposition op vision voices
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  Speaker 2: because they know people will be on holidays, they know
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  Speaker 2: that our industry won't be around, and so that's why
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  Speaker 2: they've done this. That's what governments do. So there's a
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  Speaker 2: great deal of anger, a great deal of anger.
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  Speaker 1: So do you reckon? They're trying to pull the wool
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  Speaker 1: over the eyes of territory on this.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not thinking that. I'm not sure they want to
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  Speaker 2: deceive territorians. But what they certainly want to do is
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  Speaker 2: they want to They know this will be unpopular. They understand,
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  Speaker 2: if they've understood since April at least, how unpopulous it
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  Speaker 2: is and how and how angry anger the industry is
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  Speaker 2: about this, that people with a proven track record and
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  Speaker 2: decades of experience will be forced to go through an
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  Speaker 2: academic pathway to get a license to continue to operate.
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  Speaker 2: They they they have they have a system where they
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  Speaker 2: which which will be totally inadequate to assess that experience
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  Speaker 2: and to grandfather it. There's lack of expertise, there that's
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  Speaker 2: very that's very worrying, and so there's a great deal
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  Speaker 2: of anger. And to do this, to do this the
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  Speaker 2: week before Christmas, it's just sneaky and disingenuous and and
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  Speaker 2: and angers the industry.
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  Speaker 1: Ben I know that some people will be questioning, well,
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  Speaker 1: isn't it fair enough for people to expect academic qualifications
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  Speaker 1: as well as trade experience for commercial pride.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it's not fair enough because historically there hasn't been
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  Speaker 2: that requirement. So as I say, there are many many
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  Speaker 2: builders in the territory and many people in management in
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  Speaker 2: businesses who have had decades of experience, approven track records,
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  Speaker 2: they have been working on and delivering trustworthy quality buildings
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  Speaker 2: for decades, and there's never been a requirement before to
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  Speaker 2: go through an academic pathway. Now it's fair enough to
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  Speaker 2: say that people coming industry now should have a diploma.
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  Speaker 2: We would say that actually three years of study is
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  Speaker 2: probably in adequate any way to be trusted with building
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  Speaker 2: a major project. And experience is always going to be
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  Speaker 2: you know, adds to those is always going to be
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  Speaker 2: the best thing you know on the spot on the job.
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  Speaker 2: Experience is going to be just as valuable as the
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  Speaker 2: plumber any day of the week. So, however, what we
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  Speaker 2: are saying is is that if you are going to
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  Speaker 2: have an academic pathway, you need to parallel one. In
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  Speaker 2: other words, you need to have also a way that
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  Speaker 2: that experience can be recognized and so that people won't
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  Speaker 2: be forced to go.
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  Speaker 1: Back ben What impact do you think that these reforms
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  Speaker 1: are going to have on the industry.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it can potentially force people out of the industry,
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  Speaker 2: people who've been in the industry for decades, in giants,
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  Speaker 2: as I say, in the territory, and in the industry.
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  Speaker 2: It will cause it will cause a lot of shake
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  Speaker 2: up in the industry. There's a lot and there's a
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  Speaker 2: lot we don't know what will happen. We don't know
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  Speaker 2: some of the consequences. How will it play out if
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  Speaker 2: people who are running businesses fail to get a license,
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  Speaker 2: how will they continue to operate? How will I continue
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  Speaker 2: to employ people and continue to work and driving economic
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  Speaker 2: growth in jobs in the territory. They're going to have
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  Speaker 2: to find solutions, and we don't know how it's going
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  Speaker 2: to work out. That could have unintended consequences which we're
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  Speaker 2: just not aware of. We have our plan, Master Builders
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  Speaker 2: has produced a plan called Trustworthy nt Buildings, which is
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  Speaker 2: an ecosystem very much like the one you've introduced in
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  Speaker 2: New South Wales, which we've put to the government, which
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  Speaker 2: has a whole lot of protections for consumers and for
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  Speaker 2: the territory. We want we want people to have confidence
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  Speaker 2: in our built environment and have confidence our industry, which
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  Speaker 2: they already do and we want to continue that. But
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  Speaker 2: there has to be a practical way. That has to
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  Speaker 2: be fair, it has to be true to real people
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  Speaker 2: and the situation. These are real people that the government
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  Speaker 2: is affecting, real businesses and they've run this out one
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  Speaker 2: week before Christmas when they know that that's what they're
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  Speaker 2: doing to try and avoid scrutiny and criticism.
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  Speaker 1: How big of a blow is this after you know
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  Speaker 1: what we've seen in recent years with COVID, with the
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  Speaker 1: construction among the you know, like with the construction industry
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  Speaker 1: and really you know, so much of what has happened
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  Speaker 1: over recent years. You know, we need more people to
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  Speaker 1: the workforce. How big a blow is this.
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  Speaker 2: It will be a real blow to the industry, and
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  Speaker 2: that's why the industry is so angry. We've come through COVID,
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  Speaker 2: we had to deal with that, we're building back from
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  Speaker 2: COVID and look, the territory government is doing some things
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  Speaker 2: that are fantastic that we backed them one hundred percent
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  Speaker 2: on and that we've asked for. Particularly, Minister Kirby has
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  Speaker 2: been very supportive of the industry and has continued to
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  Speaker 2: be so, and we are recruiting people overseas thanks to him,
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  Speaker 2: and so some of the things that government is doing
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  Speaker 2: is very strongly supported by US and very strongly supportive
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  Speaker 2: of us. However, this policy is deeply FORWARED, totally rejected
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  Speaker 2: and discredited and will be a blow to the industry.
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  Speaker 1: I know that there had been some issues. I recall
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  Speaker 1: interviewing Minister Laula about it in recent times. It could
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  Speaker 1: have even been sort of towards the end of last
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  Speaker 1: year where there had been some issues with the coding
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  Speaker 1: of some of the buildings around the Northern Territory and
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  Speaker 1: them not being to the specifications that were required. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: is this part of it, is this part of sort
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  Speaker 1: of making sure that everything that is built in the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory is up to the standard that that we need.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and as I said at the start, we're not
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  Speaker 2: opposed to that. We have our Trustworthy NT Buildings Plan,
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  Speaker 2: which is about doing exactly that. What we're doing, what
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  Speaker 2: we're proposing is measures that will as many are doing
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  Speaker 2: in New South Wales are about are about inspiring more
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  Speaker 2: confidence and ensuring that underpinning the continuing high quality of
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  Speaker 2: buildings in the NT. There's not there's not some epidemic
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  Speaker 2: of of of you know, flawed and unsafe and and
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  Speaker 2: what's the word on poor quality buildings. There's not that
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  Speaker 2: at all. In fact, we have we have a great
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  Speaker 2: building environment up here. But nevertheless there isn't there is
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  Speaker 2: a need, as with governments around Australia are doing, to
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  Speaker 2: put in regulations that underpin that and we support them.
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  Speaker 2: Our trust worth the NT Buildings has an ecosystem to
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  Speaker 2: achieve that, which includes building a commercial builder licensing. However, however,
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  Speaker 2: there must be a parallel pathway that recognizes the experience
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  Speaker 2: so people with a preven track record and decades of
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  Speaker 2: experience in delivering trustworthy buildings.
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  Speaker 1: Well. Ben Carter, the CEO of Master Builders here in
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory, really appreciate your time this morning. Thanks
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  Speaker 1: so much for joining us, and Merry Christmas to you.
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  Speaker 1: Please keep us up to date though with everything that goes.
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  Speaker 2: Along with this, Yeah, definitely will Katie, It'll be happy
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  Speaker 2: to do that. And Americ Christmas to all your listeners
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  Speaker 2: and for all the commercial bills out there, stay tuned.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Thanks Ben,