Ms THEOPHANOUS (Northcote): I rise with pleasure to speak in support of the Building Amendment (Cladding Rectification) Bill 2019, which at its heart is about community safety, and I acknowledge the contribution of the member for Ivanhoe, who said that your home is the biggest investment that you will make in your life. This bill helps us deliver on our commitment to protect our communities from the risks and impact of combustible cladding, which we know can be devastating.

In 2017 we saw the terrible and tragic consequences of combustible cladding brought to the fore with the loss of 72 lives in the Grenfell Tower fire in West London. In Melbourne the Lacrosse fire in 2014 and the Neo200 building fire in February this year have highlighted the risk in our own backyard. While thankfully neither of these fires caused serious injury, the extensive damage to people’s homes, the trauma experienced by residents as well as the risks to the community and first responders were severe.

Combustible cladding is a truly complex global issue impacting cities all around the world.

In Victoria thousands of home owners have been affected, including in my electorate of Northcote. The Northcote electorate forms part of two municipalities: Darebin and Yarra. While the addresses of the impacted buildings have been rightly withheld from the public for community safety reasons, we do know that 38 privately owned buildings in Darebin and 40 buildings in Yarra have been identified as having combustible cladding. But these are just numbers.

I have been contacted at my office by a steady stream of local home owners and residents who have reached out to me to share their concerns and their distress as well as their hopes for a way forward. One key message that I have heard repeatedly is that while this is indeed a global issue, for residents and for home owners it is also an intensely personal issue. This is their family that is at risk. It is their home that has been made a liability, and it is their financial security that will be impacted by the cost of rectification.

I can only imagine the feeling of lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling, worried and anxious that the very walls around me and my family are unsafe. Our homes are meant to be our safe havens, where we can retreat from the hubbub, put our feet up and relax. That is our right.

The risk posed by combustible cladding strikes at the very heart of what it means to have a home. Nobody deserves to have that sense of safety taken away from them. Nobody deserves to lie awake at night anxious that their home, their security, their livelihood and their loved ones are under threat. Indeed several people I have spoken to in my community have told me of how this issue has impacted their mental health. Residents deserve better. They deserve to live their lives in peace and in the knowledge that their homes are safe.

In Northcote we have a burgeoning population, and that has meant that in some areas we have seen many new residential developments being built at a very rapid rate. My constituents want to know that development in their neighbourhoods is both appropriate and safe. As a community we must consistently balance the need to provide affordable housing with infrastructure and community character—a balance that can sometimes be challenging. But what is most critical is that each and every resident of Northcote and of the whole state is able to feel safe and secure in the knowledge that the materials being used to build our neighbourhoods are not putting them at risk. It is for these residents, their neighbours and our local first responders that I am pleased to support the measures in this bill and the world-leading, proactive and systemic approach to this issue that the Andrews government has adopted from the outset. We have not sat on our hands waiting to see how things pan out on the global stage.

The claim from some opposite that we have done little to address this complex and large-scale problem is patently wrong. Following the Lacrosse fire in 2014 the Victorian government initiated an audit to identify buildings with combustible cladding and assess the risk. We remain the first and only state that has actively sought to identify buildings with combustible cladding. Some other jurisdictions have required building owners to declare the presence of combustible cladding, but this process is prone to delays as well as limited disclosures and failures to identify affected buildings.

Our proactive approach ensures that identification is timely and that buildings which may be affected do not slip through the cracks and remain a risk to the community. In 2017 we established the Victorian Cladding Taskforce to oversee the ongoing statewide audit and propose options for rectification as well as options for how to improve compliance and enforcement in this sector. In March 2018 Victoria became the first state to limit the use of combustible products on buildings to ensure that the health and safety of Victorians is protected into the future. With the release of the final report from the Victorian Cladding Taskforce delivered in July this year, we are now moving onto the next stage: rectification.

I need to point out that throughout this process Victoria has been a national, indeed a global, leader when it comes to facing the challenge of combustible cladding head-on, and we have taken the same approach in relation to rectification. Earlier this year we announced a package to fix buildings with combustible cladding, alleviating the stress of countless home owners who have been grappling with how to meet the financial cost of rectification. Under this $600 million package financial grants will fund rectification works to make sure homes currently at high risk are made safe. This is our number one priority, and we have established Cladding Safety Victoria to drive this work.

Cladding Safety Victoria is a dedicated agency that will work with owners and owners corporations throughout the rectification process. This aspect is important: a dedicated agency with clear functions and responsibilities provides clarity and certainty for the many home owners who are struggling with the complexity and the breadth of challenge relating to combustible cladding. This bill builds on the functions of Cladding Safety Victoria to get on with their job. Critically, it also enables Cladding Safety Victoria to make payments to home owners and bodies eligible for financial assistance to get rectification work underway. In fact initial works are already underway, with 15 buildings identified as priorities based on risks as assessed by experts. It is anticipated that by the end of the year Cladding Safety Victoria will notify the owners of the next 150 buildings that will enter the program in 2020.

While I recognise that many home owners are eager to have their buildings fixed right away, this is an immense undertaking and it does take time. Proper process is essential to ensure rectification works are done properly by qualified practitioners to keep everyone safe. Grappling with the expected cost of rectification has understandably been one of the most stressful challenges for some home owners in relation to combustible cladding.

Under the rectification program announced in July eligible home owners and owners corporations will not be required to contribute to the cost of works unless they want a solution beyond that which is required by Cladding Safety Victoria. This is welcome news for owners in high-risk buildings who, whether purchasing their apartments as forever homes or investments for the future, acted in good faith, often investing their life savings.

The cost of this rectification work will be met through a $300 million investment from the government and through an additional building levy that is expected to raise a further $300 million over five years. The additional building levy provided for in this bill has been targeted to limit the impact to particular building works at specific price ranges.

Detached dwellings and public-use buildings like hospitals and early childhood centres are excluded from the levy. We have also undertaken modelling to examine the impact of the levy on consumers and have designed the scheme to limit its effect on people buying a home. This is in line with our commitment to ensuring home ownership is an aspiration that remains within reach for everyday Victorians and we do not exacerbate existing issues relating to housing affordability.

The bill also provides for the review of the levy not more than four years after it comes into effect. This will make sure any levy continues to be necessary and appropriate in relation to the scope of ongoing rectification works.

Finally, this bill provides for the state to take legal action against builders who have done the wrong thing. While we know that most people in the building industry do the right thing and would never consider putting others in danger through dodgy work, we also know that there have been significant failures within the construction industry and non-compliant work has led to the current combustible cladding problem. It is our belief that it is only fair that those who created this problem contribute to the solution. This bill will provide for the state to take legal action to recover the costs of rectification where it can be shown to be a result of non-compliant work. This measure sends a strong message to wrongdoers and ensures they are contributing to the cost of fixing this problem. Importantly, as the state is taking on the cost of rectification, home owners will not have to endure the financial and emotional toll of entering into legal proceedings. The burden of pursuing dodgy builders through the legal system can be a huge impost.

I commend the bill to the house.