ACT Building and Gas Standards Must Be Free to Be Enforceable, and Fines for Gasfitters Who Ignore Unsafe Medical Gas Systems

Building and Construction Legislation Amendment Bill 2025

31 Mar 2025: Passed by Parliament and signed off by the governor.

This bill kicks in: TBA

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Topics

building standards construction industry gas safety gasfitting medical gas systems professional licensing public safety

Introduced by: The Hon Chris Steel MLA (ALP) — Minister       , Minister for Heritage, Minister for Planning and Sustainable Development, Minister for Transport, Treasurer

Links to official parliament websites

Official page: progress through parliament

Effects of this bill

If this bill passes, it means that:

Gasfitters commit an offence if they find a substantive safety risk in a medical gas system; they must either fix the risk immediately or give written notice to the person responsible.
Gasfitters face a maximum penalty of 50 penalty units (2026: $8,000) for failing to act on medical gas safety risks.
Gasfitters must provide a signed certificate of compliance to the person responsible for a medical gas system.
People authorised to enter premises under the Gas Safety Act 2000 can now enter to check medical gas systems and notify the person responsible for those systems.
The Planning Minister can declare specific Australian or New Zealand documents as recognised building standards.
The director-general must make these recognised standards available for free on a government website, the ACT legislation register, or at a government office. If these standards are not made accessible, the Territory or other people cannot enforce them.
Actions taken by gas appliance workers between 29 March 2015 and the start of this law are now confirmed as valid.
Regulations for building, construction licensing, and water and sewerage can now adopt or include external laws and standards.
These adopted laws or standards cannot be enforced unless they are available for free on a government website, the ACT legislation register, or at a government office.

The Debate

What different members said when this bill was debated:

Chris Steel ALP

“I move: That this bill be agreed to in principle. I am pleased to present the Building and Construction Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 to the Assembly.”

Official source →

Peter Cain LIB

“This is an omnibus bill that makes amendments to multiple pieces of legislation in the building and construction legislative space. The bill makes technical amendments to several key pieces of legislation governing building, construction, gas safety and water regulation in the ACT. The goal is to improve efficiency, align with national standards and remove outdated provisions.”

Official source →

Jo Clay GRN

“The Greens are happy to support this bill. This bill contains a number of minor and technical amendments, and it is not a significant bill that affects human rights. I was pleased to receive a briefing on this bill. It continues a body of work that was commenced last term.”

Official source →