Stop press: This Bill has passed the House of Assembly but not the Legislative Council and is now out of time. The Government say they propose to reintroduce it next session if re-elected.

Well, it is not called that. It is called the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment (Review) Amendment Bill 2017.

It is a less radical amendment that those introduced in New South Wales or Queensland in recent years, and less radical also that last year’s amendment Bill (which would have followed Queensland’s lead in abolishing privateer ANAs). Instead, it proposes to clarify the presently murky water of just what is a business day over the Christmas holidays (it will provide that 22 December in any year to 10 January in the following year inclusive are not business days. There is also a proposal to publish determinations and a clear-out of the the present crop of ANAs, with some oversight powers for the Commissioner for Small Business. A more remarkable proposal is to make it a criminal offence to ” directly or indirectly assault, threaten or intimidate, or attempt to assault, threaten or intimidate, a person in relation to an entitlement to, or claim for, a progress payment under this Act.”

It is a government Bill, and so is unlikely to fall by the wayside.  It was tabled last week. The Bill reads as follows Continue reading →