The Building Minister’s Forum will fall short of community expectations when it comes to ensuring Australians’ safety, says the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) national president Clare Cousins.

“The blaze at Melbourne’s Neo200 earlier this week was a stark reminder of what’s at stake and the immediacy of the danger posed,” she says.

“Governments have an opportunity and responsibility, having identified the danger and risk posed by certain types of flammable cladding, to do something about it before any lives are lost.”

 “Sadly it is an opportunity they appear to be squandering,” says Cousins.

“A full year since receiving the Shergold-Weir report, Building Confidence, all we have is a commitment to release a “joint implementation plan” addressing its recommendations by the end of this month,” she says.

“This is unacceptable and fails even the most basic test of common sense. Prohibiting any further installation of such products, without any equivocation, should have been the starting point.”

‘The Shergold-Weir report, Building Confidence, and the Senate Economics References Committee inquiry into non-conforming building products sets out a clear and sensible path to reform that has been backed by industry. There is no reason to continue to delay implementation any longer.

“There is no room to prevaricate when lives are at stake, it is as simple as that,” says Cousins.