Baillieu backflips into stupidity

No Baillieu backflip into stupidity

STOP PRESS: PREMIER BAILLIEU DENIES PLANS TO DUMP 6 STAR GREEN RATINGS FOR VICTORIAN HOMES

This is an amendment to the previous post, below. “The six-star ratings will stay,” Mr Baillieu reaffirmed. It appears that either Fairfax’s sources got it wrong, or, more likely, the Premier’s advisers caught wind of the array of experts and industry leaders who were about to descend upon him like the proverbial, and quickly axed the axe before any announcement made it to air. Either way, another retrograde step averted, and we can push onwards and upwards.

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Vistoria’s Baillieu government is contemplating a backflip of unprecedented stupidity: removing the requirement for new homes to be 6 Star rated.

This may be consistent with the trend for Liberal Party thinkers in recent years to adopt the position that government’s should not intervene but rather let the market do whatever it thinks is a good idea at the time (which itself would make Menzies roll in his grave), but it is utterly inconsistent with logic, common sense, and a sustainable future.

The Victorian branch of the Master Builders Association suggested this idiotic move back in 2010, suggesting that the rating requirements did not necessarily lead to better environmental outcomes. Baillieu has sat quietly on this idea for at least that long, even though Victoria signed on the (almost) nationally consistent 6 Star code last year. What the MBA has conveniently ignored is poor outcomes in the final product are the result of poor work by their members, combined with a slack inspection and certification process during construction. This is consistent with other states too, most notably NSW, where the disconnect between what BASIX and councils approve, and what is ultimately built, has become a laughing stock.

The need for minimum performance standards is more urgent than ever, and the carbon price does not undermine that, as MBA and others argue. Buildings must use less energy, and have reliable construction standards regardless of what happens to energy prices.

Envirotecture, and me as Director, will stand up and stridently criticise any Premier, bureaucrat or technocrat who proposes winding back the standards we have laboured for the last 20 years to establish. Be prepared for a shellacking if you dare, Mr Baillieu.

News report here.