Australian Standards

• All standards to be referenced in the Building Code of Australia must undergo a comprehensive regulatory impact assessment by the Australian Building Codes Board to prove a demonstrable need for the standard and a cost benefit to building owners.
• New standards should be developed according to the COAG principles for good regulatory practice.
• The decision to develop a standard should be made at arm’s length from Standards Australia, reflecting a strong demonstrable need and industry-wide consensus.
• Standards Australia must accept greater accountability for standards, ensuring appropriate cost/benefit analysis and public consultation, as part of their development.
• The separation of the public good and commercial operations of Standards Australia and SAI Global must be effective. Standards Australia should not be driven by commercial returns.
• Government funding for the development of any “public good” standards should be provided to ensure that the all interests are appropriately considered.
• Australian Standards should be accessible at no cost or at no more than marginal cost, as has been general practice with all other Australian legislation. The entire text of all new standards, and any amendments to existing standards, should be available online free of charge, where the Standard is called up by any Federal, State or Local legislation or regulation.
• Compliance with a referenced standard should be a defence in court or tribunal proceedings. Reliance on standards that are not referenced in regulation or are not agreed to as part of the building contract should not have weight in building dispute arbitration.
• The Australian Building Codes Board should provide direction to all state administrations and local government, on the position of unreferenced standards in building regulation.