Building and Construction Industry Professional Development
Reverend the Hon. Dr GORDON MOYES: I ask the Special Minister of State, representing the Minister for Fair Trading, a question without notice. Is the Minister aware that the continuing professional development [CPD] system, a mandatory requirement for the retention of a licence under the Home Building Act, is supported by the New South Wales building and construction industry? Is the Minister conscious of the fact that consultation had taken place with industry associations in 2003 on the appropriate CPD system to be implemented and that the outcomes of these consultations resulted in a workable system? Does the Minister know that the CPD system was revised by the Home Building Service of the Office of Fair Trading and launched in 2004? Is the Minister aware that a vast majority of industry associations reject the revised CPD system of the Home Building Service because proper consultation did not take place within these associations in the spirit in which the Minister just mentioned in his last answer?
The Hon. JOHN DELLA BOSCA: I am a little confused by the honourable member’s question. So far as I can see, it deals with consultation both in respect of the matter to which the honourable member referred and also in respect the concern expressed in the last 48 hours about home warranty insurance market practice guidelines and a number of other reforms in the building industry. On my own behalf and that of my colleague the Hon. Reba Meagher I can state that there could not have been more detailed or exacting consultation undertaken with industry stakeholders. It surprises and disappoints me that a number of significant figures on both sides of the stakeholder argument incessantly argue and make the cheap point that there was inadequate consultation when they were represented on the forums. They were represented constitutionally on the consultative forums that made those decisions. As the specifics of the honourable member’s question warrant a detailed answer from the Minister, I will ask her to provide one as soon as is practicable.
