No banking on support

HOUSING and Public Works Minister Mick de Brenni says legislation to ensure subcontractors are not caught out in building company collapses will go before State Parliament within months.

Mr de Brenni said proposed laws to create project bank accounts for subbies would soon be reviewed by Cabinet before going before Parliament in the first quarter of the new financial year as part of a package of building industry reforms.

The move to introduce project bank accounts follows a series of building industry collapses in the past year that have costs subbies hundreds of millions of dollars.

Under the scheme, builders and contractors will be required to pay money into the accounts to ensure subbies are paid.

The Government has vowed that project bank accounts will be introduced on government projects from January 1 next year and expanded to all projects over $1 million from the start of 2019.

Peak bodies such as Master Builders and the Property Council of Australia claim project bank accounts will be a dis- aster for the sector, increasing costs and red tape.

Mr de Brenni conceded there had been industry opposition to the reforms, but claimed there had been a “shift in the position” of peak bodies such as Master Builders in recent weeks.

He said full-page newspaper advertisements placed by Master Builders last week supported many of the proposed reforms, such as stiffer financial reporting requirements for builders.

The minister conceded Master Builders still opposed project bank accounts.

“The economic and social benefits of these reforms are clear and although we have had opposition we are determined to proceed,” he said.

Master Builders Queensland deputy chief executive Paul Bidwell said the position of the peak body had not changed in relation to project bank accounts.

Mr Bidwell said Master Builders had always supported reforms such as improved dispute resolution and a simplified payment regime. But he said Mr de Brenni had not convinced everyone in the industry that project bank accounts were viable.

“The minister has gone out on a limb with these project bank accounts and we just don’t see how it will work,” said Mr Bidwell.

The Government is also proposing strengthened powers for the Queensland Building and Construction Commission, and the reintroduction of mandatory financial reporting for builders.