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Ingram backs better insurance for buildersThe Independent Member for Gippsland East, Craig Ingram, has again called on the Premier Steve Bracks to resolve insurance issues affecting many builders and associated professionals in his electorate and across the state. By Craig Ingram - 15th August 2005 - Back to News In Parliament this week, Mr Ingram called on the government to establish an effective builder’s warranty fund with a principle of first-resort redress.
"The current builders warranty insurance scheme is an absolute disaster and has been for some time," Mr Ingram said.
"It has provided no real consumer protection and has levied very expensive insurance costs on builders, particularly small to medium builders.
"Since July 2002, $400 to $600 million has been levied on builders, with an estimate of only six claims that have come out of that. Someone is making a lot of money out of this scheme and it is providing no protection for consumers."
Mr Ingram told Parliament that it was absolutely essential that the government takes action to establish an effective builder’s warranty fund.
"There has been a 12% increase in owner-builder permits being issued since the warranty insurance crises began, which highlights that a large proportion of builders are still using owner-builders permits to escape the high cost and difficulty in gaining insurance.
"This highlights that it is very difficult for those individuals to get builders warranty insurance or pay the extremely exorbitant fees that are being levied by the insurance companies.
"The builders’ collective has put forward a proposal, and I believe it would work. It is based on the travel agents fund and would establish a building warranty scheme with a small levy on the 85,000 domestic building permits currently being issued.
"This would provide a first-resort protection so that consumers would have recourse when faced with faulty workmanship or if a builder went out of business.
"The penalties would obviously need to be applied to builders who did not uphold their contracts or failed to provide consistent quality workmanship.
"It is essential that consumers are protected and builders do not have to pay the exorbitant costs of insurance which is not being met by the current scheme," Mr Ingram concluded.
Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: news@gippsland.com
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