Builder Crackdown, The Canberra Times

The head of the ACT's planning authority has met representatives from the building industry to deliberate on ways to clamp down on shoddy builders. It was the first dedicated meeting between ACTPLA and industry groups on the issue. The meeting came after Planning Minister Andrew Barr wrote to the industry groups flagging a host of measures aimed at penalising bad work. The measures, largely aimed at apartment and townhouse construction, proposed naming and shaming dodgy builders, introducing a defects fund and extending the time of building warranties. ACTPLA's chief planning executive, Neil Savery, said there was an agreement that there was "an issue that needed to be addressed and (the industry groups) were prepared to have a serious conversation about it".