Published: 25 Aug 2022
The resignation letter of former NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler, tabled in the NSW Parliament last week, raises serious questions about relationships between the LNP and property developers in the state.
Chandler’s resignation also reveals the double standards these politicians apply to regulating the industry, where workers and unions are pursued relentlessly for civil breaches of industrial laws while property developers and builders who rip off the community are protected by their friends in the Liberal & National Parties.
Quotes from Dave Noonan, CFMEU National Construction Secretary:
“Coalition MPs constantly tell us the construction industry needs forceful regulation when it comes to prosecuting workers, using coercive powers against working people and forcing unions to battle through the courts to preserve basic rights like women’s toilets on construction sites.”
“Yet the real issue that concerns the community, bad building standards which leave customers with unsafe and unliveable properties, is held hostage by factions of the Liberal Party fighting over which shonky building developer they want to back.”
“The Coalition’s double-standards when it comes to regulating the construction industry are on clear display in their treatment of Chandler. Here you have a regulator who attempted to hold builders to account being shafted by the LNP acting in service to their property developer mates.”
Quotes from Darren Greenfield, CFMEU NSW Construction Secretary:
“The CFMEU didn't agree with everything Chandler said or did in the role, but it was well known in the industry that he was attempting to uphold building standards in construction and trying to ensure dodgy builders were held responsible for defects in properties they built.”
“It appears that Chandler upset some members of the NSW government by using his powers to push developers with cosy relationships with Liberal and Nationals politicians to fix the spate of serious defects detected in apartment buildings in Sydney.”
“The people of New South Wales would be justified in asking just whether he was undermined and driven out of his role by members of the NSW Liberal Nationals government doing the bidding of their donors in the property industry”.