Victorian Building Authority dismantling drags on

The last rites of an embattled and ineffective government organisation are still playing out ... and it’s taking too long.

Back in October 2024, the Victorian Government announced that the Victorian Building Authority (VBA) would be dismantled, and a new, more powerful consumer protection watchdog known as the Victorian Building and Plumbing Commission (VBPC) would replace it.

The VBPC will now handle all aspects of building quality control – regulation, insurance and dispute resolution – into a single agency.

Currently, the VBA could only direct builders to fix substandard work before occupants move in.

Under new rules the Building and Plumbing Commission will be able to direct to fix work not just before move-in day – but even several years after the building has been completed.

However, the ghosts of the past will just not leave the VBA, and until the government fast-tracks the new organisation, the legacy of the VBA will continue to haunt all who serve in the industry.

In January 2025, the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC) announced that one VBA employee had been charged with taking bribes to register builders, along with 27 others outside the organisation who were either building registration applicants or had allegedly helped facilitate building registration applications for others.

This is in addition to last year’s investigations by IBAC where another two VBA employees were charged with being part of alleged corrupt conduct.

In 2023, a scandal emerged when 60 Minutes and The Age newspaper revealed that VBA inspectors had completed hundreds of “virtual” building audits by video telephone calls, rather than via physical building inspections.

It has been several months since the new VBPC was announced, but there is still no start date for the new organisation, and new building and plumbing works are still having to be signed off by the VBA, the embattled regulator that has been shown to be ineffective.

The risk to property and to fire and life safety is simply too significant to await an orderly transition to be played out over several months or years.

The new organisation must take immediate control, and the government ought to fast-track its commencement and take over the certification and compliance of new building and plumbing works.

It is noted the VBPC doesn’t even have an official website as yet.

It seems that Victorians will not see this new and effective regulator to be in place for quite some time.

In the meantime, continued caution should be exercised by consumers about taking ownership of any new homes or apartments or specialised plumbing or gas fitting work due to the lingering concerns about whether there has been compliance with the Building Code and the relevant Australian Standards. •