On Peanuts and Monkeys: Private Sector Involvement in Australian Building Control

Abstract

In response to issues arising from municipal led regulatory enforcement, governments in Australia have reformed their regimes of building regulation and control since the 1990s. Private certifiers have been introduced as an addition to local government building control. Based on a series of interviews with 56 insiders this article addresses the implications of privatisation of Australian building control by discussing its intended and unintended impacts. The article concludes by drawing a number of case-specific lessons and more general lessons on privatisation of regulatory enforcement that move well beyond the field of building control.