Bills
Architects Amendment Bill 2025
First reading
Mr David Michael (Leader of the House) Bill read a first time, on motion by on behalf of Dr Tony Buti (Minister for Commerce), read a first time.
Explanatory memorandum presented by the Leader of the House.
Second reading speech
Mr David Michael (Balcatta—Leader of the House) (9:19 am): I move:
That the bill be now read a second time.
The bill before us was introduced into the previous Parliament at the end of 2024, but because of the prorogation of that Parliament before the recent state election, the bill needs to be reintroduced into the current Parliament.
The bill aims to address a number of issues raised by the Architects Board of Western Australia with respect to the Architects Act 2004 that impact the board's operations and raises risks for both architects and consumers. The board has greater autonomy than other statutory licensing boards supported by the Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety. It manages its own administration and is funded primarily from its registration and licensing fees. The current inclusion of the board within DEMIRS's fee-setting process is administratively burdensome on both parties. In addition, several of the fees charged by the board reflect fees imposed by other bodies, such as the Architects Accreditation Council of Australia. Changes to these fees by that national body often result in the board charging less for the service than it costs to administer. While fees will continue to be prescribed in the act or in the Architects Regulations 2005, the bill proposes to allow the board to determine the amounts of fees provided under the act. This will provide flexibility for the board to update the fee amounts quickly and whenever needed. However, as a safeguard, the act will require the board to keep the fees at cost-recovery levels and publish a written notice of any fee change on its website.
The bill also makes various improvements to the process and requirements for renewal of architect registrations and licences. The bill addresses a current issue with the legislation, which, if applied strictly, can result in having registered architects ceasing to be registered for a period, through no fault of their own: regulation 16A specifies that registrations expire on 30 June in the year following the year in which registration is granted, while regulation 16C(4) states that the renewal fee is due after the expiry of the registration, which is currently set on 30 September. At the same time, the act requires payment of the renewal fee for a person to remain registered. The bill resolves this inconsistency by amending the relevant sections and allowing the regulations to prescribe more details around the payment of renewal fees. This addresses one of the recommendations outlined in the Statutory Review of the Architects Act 2004 published in December 2018.
The bill deals with several other problems identified in the wording of various sections of the act, mainly with regard to the registration, licensing and renewal processes, as detailed in the explanatory memorandum. Fixing those issues and streamlining those legislative requirements will strengthen consumer protection.
The name of the board is also proposed to be changed to the Architects Registration Board of Western Australia to highlight that the board is a regulator and not an industry body. Following the passage of the bill through Parliament, a number of amendments to the Architects Regulations will be needed to fully implement the key changes proposed in the bill. Pursuant to standing order 126(1), I advise that this bill is not a uniform legislation bill.
I commend the bill to the house.
Debate adjourned, on motion by Mr Peter Rundle.
