Rex Patrick (SA, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in support of the amendments that have been moved by the Greens. Senator Faruqi mentioned the Grenfell fire and the fire in Melbourne. It's a terrible situation that we've got. Around the country, we've got a number of buildings that are clad with flammable material. 'Wrapped in petrol', I think, is the phrase that is often used because of how flammable this cladding can be. When the Senate looked at this through the non-conforming building products inquiry, chaired by then Senator Ketter, which did a fantastic job of examining this, one thing was really clear in relation to cladding, and that was that there was a lack of responsibility. Whether it was the importer falsely making declarations about the nature of the cladding, whether it was the builder who had selected a particular type of cladding because it was a couple of dollars per square metre cheaper or whether it was the building surveyor who simply wasn't in a position to work out post facto whether the cladding was flammable or non-flammable, there was finger pointing: 'Anyone but me.' What this amendment does is assign responsibility to the people who are in direct control of their activities and are in a position where they can stop this from occurring. So it's great. It's not about government regulators who might be distant. It's not about the person who's acquired the building having to do their own due research. It places responsibility right where the control is, and as such it's a good measure. I thank the Greens for introducing these amendments to the bill, and Centre Alliance will be supporting them.