Victoria is overhauling building law, why is plumbing insurance still being ignored?
The Allan Labor Government is claiming success under the current changes to the domestic building regime…but what about ‘PLUMBING INSURANCE’?
For a state with so many leaky roofs, balconies and water ingress issues. Why no attention to this issue?
I post on LinkedIn about issues with building law in Victoria and one issue in particular keeps being bizarrely overlooked…
Plumbing insurance under the Licensed Plumbers General Insurance Order 2002.
Why do I keep raising this?
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Water ingress issues cause significant safety risks to Victorians, think mouldy apartments and leaking roofs.
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The government knows about this.
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This was raised under the ‘Victorian Building Authority - The Case for Transformation’ report by Bronwyn Weir and Frances Hall of October 2024.
That report raised a number of case studies that lead to domestic building law changes in Victoria. But despite this, the Victorian government has failed to deal with the plumbing insurance issue.
So my question is:
Why is the government deliberately overlooking this?
As background, many case studies in the Weir Report raised defective plumbing work and unacceptably slow claims processes.
Plus:
- Plumbing can attract defective works into hundreds of thousands of dollars; and
Plumbers are not just like other trades, they issue compliance certificates under the Building Act 1993 (Vic).
Issues with the insurance have included:
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No proper forum for complaints. Get this - in one case the insurer advised a complainant to lodge a complaint with the AFCA and then argued successfully that the AFCA had no jurisdiction.
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Insurers delayed responding to complainants and behaved poorly undermining consumer protection; and
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Insurers have sought to rely on exclusions or reject claims contrary to the requirements of the terms of the ministerial order.
THIS INSURANCE IS NOT WORKING FOR PLUMBERS OR CONSUMERS…
The last time I posted on this topic the Building and Plumbing Commission pointed out that government need to make such change.
Well here we are, but the ‘Building and Plumbing Administration and Enforcement Bill 2026’ with first reading last week shows no change to plumbing insurance!
GUYS - It is NOT hard. Hell, I will draft the amendment myself, here is a start:
Amend page 3 of the Explanatory Memorandum to include a new chapter 12 being:
“Chapter 12 provides additional protections for Victorian plumbers and consumers of plumbing services by amending the Licensed Plumbers General Insurance Order 2002 including a forum for review of complaints, clarity that cover applies for 10 years in line with the statutory warranties and means for consumers to access plumbing insurance.
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