The Programme
Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk has articulated a reform agenda that goes beyond the self-certification scheme to encompass a broader reshaping of the Licensed Building Practitioner (LBP) framework. The stated motivation: “Most tradies are highly skilled and trustworthy, but the industry tells me high-profile examples of poor workmanship are tarring the good with the bad.” The programme targets both ends of the quality spectrum — rewarding trusted practitioners with reduced compliance overhead and strengthening the tools for dealing with those who fall below standard.
The Key Changes
Self-certification: Licensed Building Practitioners will be able to sign off certain categories of their own work, eliminating the need for council inspection at those stages. The change applies to work completed by licensed electrical workers, LBPs, plumbers, gasfitters, and drainlayers. Implementation is expected in 2026.
Waterproofing licence class: A new LBP licence class specifically for waterproofing work — wet area installation in bathrooms, en-suites, and similar applications — will ensure that this critical and failure-prone building element is performed by practitioners with demonstrated competence and clear accountability. Weathertightness failures disproportionately originate in wet area construction, and creating a specific qualification and liability framework for this work addresses one of the most common defect pathways.
Disciplinary transparency: The LBP Registrar will gain additional tools for managing disciplinary processes, including the ability to publish details of builders who have been suspended. Making disciplinary outcomes visible creates accountability and provides consumers with information that the current system does not systematically make available.
Complaints process improvements: Registrars for electrical workers and plumbers, gasfitters, and drainlayers will be able to initiate investigations more easily, with Codes of Ethics established for these licence classes.
The Sceptics’ Concerns
Institute of Building Surveyors president David Clifton has argued that the reforms put self-certification before the training and professional development infrastructure needed to make it trustworthy: “LBPs need further training to be adequately prepared for any proposed change for self-certification.” Former industry commentator Mark Graham raised the specific risk of franchise-based volume builders whose financial capacity to address significant defects may not match the volume of work they produce. The leaky homes reference recurs across these concerns — a reminder that market-based accountability in construction can fail in ways whose costs fall on consumers, not on the practitioners responsible.
