Inquiry into the Non-payment of Construction Workers
Ever completed work, or provided materials and not been paid?
Non-payment is a frequent issue in the industry that has serious impacts for contractors.
Last year, Level Playing Field together with ATFA and other
trade associations put forward a parliamentary submission to the Victorian government.
Our submission formed key recommendations made by the Parliamentary Inquiry into the Non-payment of Construction Workers.
What is the Parliamentary Inquiry into the Non-payment of Construction Workers?
The Victorian government has committed to implementing change in the construction industry to address the issue of construction workers not being paid.
The Parliamentary Inquiry into the Non-payment
of Construction Workers wanted to hear first hand experiences and recommendations from the construction industry.
We worked with Level Playing Field to collate experiences from subcontractors, small business owners, and more who haven’t been paid for works or materials.
This formed a submission to the Victorian government that called for real solutions to the issue of non-payment in the industry.
In November, the Parliamentary Inquiry released their report. They relied heavily on our submission and put forward 28 recommendations to deal with non-payment of subcontractors.
Some of the key recommendations for timber flooring contractors include:
- Possible inclusion of construction contracts with homeowners, meaning that the Victorian Government will amend the Security of Payment law to allow subcontractors to recover from homeowners.
- Removal of reference dates, meaning that subcontractors have more opportunities to claim using the Security of Payment legislation.
- New law providing an entitlement to claim retention money, ensuring that a claim for retention can form part of a subcontractor’s progress claim and that they are not prevented from recovering unpaid cash retention.
- Review of a statutory trust scheme to mitigate the impacts of insolvency, meaning the Victorian Government will work with the construction sector to review the application of a cascading statutory trust scheme to protect subcontractors against insolvency.
Next steps for the recommendations:
The final report was tabled on 28 November 2023. The Victorian Government now has six months to respond to the report from the tabling date.
Hopefully this means we get a draft bill, so that we can see some of these important changes implemented into the law.
For more information or if you have any questions about the process, Level Playing Field Lawyers can be contacted on
(03) 9041 4674 or admin@levelplayingfield.com.au
