NO.107

The Government is today releasing the report of the Productivity Commission inquiry

into legislation regulating the architectural profession.

The inquiry served as a national review of participating States and Territories’

legislation, as part of their commitments made under the Competition Principles Agreement

signed by all Australian Governments in 1995. The Commonwealth has no legislation

regulating architects.

The guiding principle for competition policy reviews is that legislation should not

restrict competition unless it can be demonstrated that the benefits to the community

outweigh the costs and that the objectives can only be achieved by restricting

competition.

The Commission’s preferred option was to repeal Architects Acts and statutory

certification of architects. The Commission found these to add very little to other

measures for addressing concerns about the quality of the built environment and the

various health and safety issues related to buildings. The Commission expected that this

option would lead to current architects establishing a credible system of certification

and marketing the advantages of their qualifications.

Alternatively, the Commission found that existing Architects Acts could be improved by

establishing a national system of registration — although the Commission considered

that this objective could be more readily achieved under self regulation than harmonised

State/Territory legislation. The Commission found no case for extending current

regulation.

All States and Territories have agreed to participate in the development of a national

response to the review, and a Working Group will be set up for this purpose. The Working

Group will contain a representative from each State and Territory and will present its

proposed response to heads of Government for consideration.

As the Commonwealth does not have any legislation regulating architects, responsibility

for responding to the Commission’s legislative review is entirely a matter for the

States and Territories.

CANBERRA

16 November 2000