New apartment and home construction needs more supervision

It’s no surprise to me as an architect that up to 60 per cent of new apartments in Australia are riddled with construction flaws, . The main reason for this problem is that developers save money by cutting out the construction supervision by architects.

Paying the additional one per cent of the value of the contract for a supervising architect is a pittance compared with the huge costs that owners, builders and governments pay to rectify construction defects.Your front page article on faulty building causing new owners great financial stress shows that our building regulations, as they are, provide little or no protection to purchasers who can’t be expected to understand the complexities involved.

I was recently reminded that dignity is not always afforded, and women continue to be reminded of our place in “the system”. I was then asked if I was at risk of violence. I wasn’t sure how to answer that. No one had ever asked me that before. We are a well-dressed, working family that, on the surface, looks fine. Tears welled in my eyes. “Well, he’s never hit me but while his drinking problem remains untreated his behaviour is unpredictable.”

I am fortunate to have a phone, computer, internet and a quiet determination to retain my dignity, and that of my children, in what has been a devastating emotional roller-coaster. I’m grateful we have services like the Sanctuary to afford dignity and hope to women and children as they, too, navigate “the system” and get a chance at a new life.Opposition Leader Peter Dutton yet again exposes his dog-whistling xenophobic attitudes in his reply to the federal budget.

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