Nickolas Varvaris (Barton, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in favour of this bill, the Building Energy Efficiency Disclosure Amendment Bill 2014, which aims to streamline the administrative processes of the Commercial Building Disclosure program and, in so doing, address the concerns of stakeholders about reducing the regulatory burden on industry.

This bill fits with the coalition's plan to reduce red tape and to make it easier for businesses to comply with commercial building disclosure regulations. The implementation of this bill will result in significant savings for businesses.

The amending legislation will also ensure that businesses will encounter a smaller administrative burden and less red tape when dealing with compliance relating to energy efficiency regulations. The Prime Minister has noted:

… lower taxes, less red tape, and more incentives to work harder and smarter are the key to a stronger economy and better services.

I am pleased to be able to state that the coalition is delivering on its promises to cut red tape and make it easier for business to comply with government regulations.

Currently, the commercial building sector is responsible for about 10 per cent of Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions and the coalition recognises that tackling building energy efficiency is one of the quickest and most cost-effective ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, thereby helping to mitigate the effects of climate change.

However, in so doing, it is important to ensure that the burden on business is not overly excessive and unreasonable, particularly in conducting transactions which are already significantly complex and time consuming.

This amending legislation aims to improve the Commercial Building Disclosure program, created under the Building Energy Efficiency Disclosure Act 2010, the BEED Act, with the purpose of allowing businesses to have greater flexibility with applications for building energy efficiency certificates. The bill also ensures that certain businesses can deal with the streamlined administrative process when complying with the Commercial Building Disclosure program.

The Building Energy Efficiency Disclosure Act aims to ensure that credible and meaningful energy efficiency information is given to prospective purchasers and lessees of large commercial office space. The act requires energy efficiency information to be disclosed in most cases, when commercial office space of 2,000 square metres or more is offered for sale or lease, in order to allow purchasers or lessees to make more informed decisions and take a more complete account of the economic costs and environmental impacts associated with the operation of commercial premises which they are intending to purchase or lease. However, under the current regulatory framework, concerns have arisen from various stakeholders about the effectiveness of the program in achieving its goals.

This government has a proven track record of engaging with industry and, in so doing, has listened to concerns and acted to ensure that we make the process of conducting compliance more streamlined and efficient for business.

The amending legislation will make a number of changes in order to facilitate this. Firstly, it will provide exemptions to building owners who receive unsolicited offers for the sale or lease of their office space. Under the present legislation businesses are compelled to provide building energy efficiency certificates when unsolicited offers are made for a potential lease or purchase of any commercial property that falls under the act.

This bill will reduce the regulatory burden on industry, by providing a time-limited exemption from the mandatory disclosure requirements for the two parties involved in a negotiation started by an unsolicited offer. Providing for an exemption in this instance will reduce the need for businesses to provide untimely building energy efficiency certificates and will lead to an estimated $0.3 million reduction of regulatory burden on businesses.

Furthermore, the amending legislation will provide for wholly-owned subsidiaries to be excluded from disclosure obligations when entering into transactions with a parent entity. The effect of this change is to exclude these non-market transactions from the requirements of mandatory disclosure which will, in turn, reduce the burden on industry.

Whilst the present legislation aims to create a more informed marketplace with regard to transactions involving large commercial premises, mandating that wholly-owned subsidiaries transacting with parent entities be compelled to comply with the Commercial Building Disclosure program does not serve to achieve this and simply adds unnecessary complexity to already elaborate transactions.

Excluding these non-market transactions from the disclosure regime will lead to a further estimated $0.3 million reduction of regulatory burden on businesses. Combined with the exemptions to businesses which receive unsolicited offers from potential lessors and buyers, these measures will see a $0.6 million reduction in regulatory burden on business.

In addition to addressing these issues, the amendment will also address the ambiguity in the Building Energy Efficiency Act in relation to the status of assessments undertaken by assessors accredited under the National Australian Built Environment Ratings System. At present, a number of NABERS accredited assessors are not accredited under the Building Energy Efficiency Disclosure Act. This means there is significant ambiguity for businesses around the status of accreditations completed by NABERS accredited assessors. In order to address this issue the amendment will confer additional functions on auditing authorities such as NABERS allowing them to directly provide or approve ratings used in building energy efficiency certificates which are required for compliance with the Commercial Building Disclosure Regulations.

The amendment will also confer two new functions on appointed auditors when conducting assessments of affected commercial property. Assessors will now be allowed to conduct audits of both energy efficiency ratings and lighting energy efficiency assessments provided or approved by auditing authorities such as NABERS for the purposes of applying for building energy efficiency certificates. The bill also aims to allow auditors to conduct audits of applications for exemptions under section 17 of the Building Energy Efficiency Disclosure Act. This has the practical effect of enabling auditing under the Building Energy Efficiency Disclosure Act of NABERS energy efficiency ratings which are conducted by the significant number of NABERS accredited assessors who have not been accredited under the Building Energy Efficiency Disclosure Act up until now. In clarifying the status of assessments that up until now may not have been made by assessors accredited under the Building Energy Efficiency Disclosure Act, the coalition will give certainty and assurance to businesses attempting to comply with the CBD regulations.

The bill also introduces the concept of having both an issue day and a start day which is later than the issue day. At present, there is no distinction between the day a building energy efficiency certificate is issued and the day that it starts to take effect. This will provide greater flexibility for businesses wishing to proactively maintain current building energy efficiency certificates for their property portfolios. The changes will also allow for a new building energy efficiency certificate to be issued in advance of the expiry of a current building energy efficiency certificate and for the new certificate to commence once the current certificates expires, creating a more efficient way for business to ensure that the certificates are up to date and compliant for their entire portfolio.

Furthermore, the act will be amended to allow for variations or revocations of an exemption to be given by the secretary of the department by way of written notice to a person with an interest in the commercial building or area to be affected. In doing so, the amendment will serve to remove the need for new owners and lessors to reapply or pay the application fee for a fresh exemption as if there is already a valid one in place for a building. This measure will make it easier for new owners and lessors to comply with the act's regulations and save them money by waiving the associated fee which under the act as it presently stands is required to accompany any application for a variation. The amendment will also ensure that the requirement for six pages of standard energy efficiency guidance text on the building energy efficiency certificate BEECH is removed. Instead, live and interactive online information about improving energy efficiency for office buildings will be provided in its place, thereby reducing the amount of paperwork that business needs to wade through in regulatory compliance.

By streamlining the work done by assessors accredited under the NABERS program, by making the process of applying for exemption more efficient and by reducing the overall burden businesses have in complying with regulations, the government has taken genuine steps to cut unnecessary red tape. In actively dismantling excessive regulatory burden, the government has not lost sight of the very real need to assist the commercial building sector to seek market based incentives to reform energy efficiency.

As I have mentioned previously, the amendments in this act demonstrate the government's clear commitment to taking into account the concerns of various stakeholders and reduce the regulatory burden on industry. At the previous election the Australian community made it clear that they wished to see a government taking action on these issues which stifle businesses and constrain growth. We have a clear mandate to lessen the regulatory burden and cut unnecessary red tape. This bill is one of the many important steps the coalition is taking to help businesses to facilitate growth. I commend this bill to the House.

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