Dear Shadow Minister,

You asked;

“Are you going to tell me that there were never any corrupt government employed inspectors?”

Of course not, but they sure as hell weren't beholden to a client who just shops around for the most compliant inspector they can buy. This is the type of corruption implicit in the capitalist system but we just call it competition and move on.

If you are going to make the case that our modern buildings are built to more rigorous standards appropriate for the period than today then good luck.

On Four Corners there was a Chinese investor who had purchased an apartment in the ill fated tower who said to camera this kind of shoddiness and lax regulation was what she had tried to escape in China.

The Pink Batt effort was undermined purely because it was hived out to the private sector. If this had been done through proper government procurement and works department lives would have undoubtedly been save and standards maintained.

You seem to be advocating the privatisation of everything. Where o you draw the line? Our police forces, are they fair game too?

SR,

What bollocks, the shopping around for inspectors also happened with publicly employed inspectors. This corruption is even more rampant in socialist systems as experienced by the Chinese investor.

That the NSW inspector was reported several times and the council (labor) failed to revoke his license was the problem.

As far as privatisation, there is a branch of economics which defines very clearly the rationale behind whether something should be public or private concern. There is a strong argument for government provided health and education, and very strong arguments for privatising airlines, media etc. Rather than trading snide comments I would recommend you read up on the subject before posting further dumb comments

This might give you an inkling

Steelie: This is the type of corruption implicit in the capitalist system but we just call it competition and move on.

Yes the type Corruption that Lefty's pray for so they can take advantage of the System. Ay.

Steelie: The Pink Batt effort was undermined purely because it was hived out to the private sector.

Under a Labor Government. Although, the same thing is happening with Home Solar. It's endemic to both Types of Governments.

SM: There is a strong argument for government provided health and education.

Add to that; The Power Grid, Rail, Roads & a couple of others.

Dear Shadow Minister,

Oh what rot. Tell me how did one go about shopping around for a building inspector before privatisation when most of them were council assigned?

That is the very definition of a dumb comment.

This is what is happening on the ground;

"Builders Collective of Australia national president Phil Dwyer said that in a lot of instances there was a "cosy" relationship between developers and private building surveyors.

"It is a relationship that in some instances overlooks what should take place, on the basis of 'she'll be right'," he said.

A recent Victorian Auditor-General's report warned that private building surveyors may be unwilling to challenge substandard or illegal construction because they were reliant on the builder for ongoing business.

It found building surveyors were more than seven times more likely to have their registrations cancelled than any other class of building practitioner.

And it said 10 per cent of the state's registered building surveyors were found guilty of an offence by the Building Practitioners Board in the five years to December 2013. Of the 58 hauled before the board, 16 appeared more than once."

http://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/victorian-building-surveyors-guilty-over-more-than-700-misconduct-claims-20150731-giofcr.html

How on earth can you deem this system to be working?

I hear the quality of trade construction has gone down the toilet dramatically over the last 30 years. People tell me that there's no way some of these high-rises of today will last 50 years. 30 years ago there would only be a few parts of a construction which were not up to scratch and received an X for rectification. Now the buildings are covered in X's. They don't even waterproof the top of buildings properly because they are in that much of a rush to get them finidhed they wont wait 2 days for it to seal for the warranty. People tell me theres lots of money in rectification work.

SR,

Are you really that naive? If you know how to play the game, the inspectors you can get stuff waved through with no problems. I was on a site where an inspector of a public institution was phoned and volunteered for an "urgent" inspection on an Easter weekend. He came in and after a cursory inspection of an hour, signed off the plant and got paid for one day at triple time, and this is where a plant already complied with all the regs.

That there are problems with the system there is no doubt, but the public system was even worse, with delays in approvals taking about 2yrs and costing investors and the economy $bns.