A New South Wales government investigation revealed that 531 TP3T apartments registered between 2016 and 2022 had at least one serious defect. The New South Wales government established a Building Commission in December 2023 to address shoddy construction across the state. The commission also created a blackspot map to identify areas of activity by high-risk developers. As Australia's housing affordability problem grows, New South Wales is at the forefront of a new construction crisis.
More than half of the apartment buildings registered in the state since 2016 have at least one serious defect. Problems in the industry have swamped the workload of David Chandler, the New South Wales Building Commissioner, since he was appointed in 2019. His team has grown from an initial staff of 24 to more than 400 to address the problem.
The commission, which began operations in December 2023, fulfilled a NSW Labor election promise and has already issued 16 building works rectification orders. Mr Chandler said the commission was moving from a reactive approach to a proactive approach. While initially focused on developers, he has now broadened the scope of his work.
Recent government data shows the number of serious defects reported by condominium owners' offices has fallen every year since 2017. In 2021, only a third of building registrations had one or more serious defects, compared to 631,000 condominium owners' offices reporting problems five years ago.
Lawyer Bronwyn Weir co-authored the 2018 Construction Confidence Report, which examined the effectiveness of Australia's building industry compliance and enforcement systems. Weir found a lack of accountability was a systemic problem over the past two decades.
The former New South Wales Coalition government introduced the Residential Apartment Building Act in 2020, giving the Building Commissioner greater powers to address shoddy workmanship. Last year, the state government passed legislation further strengthening the regulator, allowing it to compel builders to fix defects before a building is completed. Previously, inspectors could only issue orders after construction was complete.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns admitted earlier this month that the state was unlikely to meet the housing targets he agreed to at national cabinet last year. The state needs to build an average of 75,000 new homes each year over the next five years to meet the pledge.
Experts hope that such strict regulation will significantly reduce the number of serious defects in future buildings. Weir said any building built in the past 20 years has a high risk of defects. She believes that Australia's state and territory governments should be responsible for not only delivering new homes quickly, but also ensuring that new homes meet minimum standards of safety and compliance.
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