The committee has heard from distressed homeowners and residents from Mascot Towers, the insurance industry, and from former treasury secretary Michael Lambert who has criticised the government’s limited response to the scale of defects in NSW buildings. Mr Chandler said he had developed a plan for the next three months, but did not want to make that public yet. He also said he rejected Mr Lambert’s idea that he needed a commission of staff behind him, and said he preferred a “legislation-light” approach to reform. Mr Chandler said he visited Mascot Towers and the evacuated apartments at Zetland on Thursday. “When I walked across that job yesterday I don’t think I’ve seen many buildings as poorly built as that,” Mr Chandler said of the Mascot block, which had been “poorly” engineered in his opinion. “I’m quite certain that the builder didn’t know how to read any construction plans,” he said. “The faults that are in that building – simply, someone didn’t pay any attention to them. The control joints and cracking and stuff that’s in there – it’s fixable, but it’s going to take a lot of work to fix.

“There’s a builder there that’s operating that really shouldn’t have been in the space doing it. They didn’t have the capability, they certainly didn’t have the construction drawings. But perhaps the drawings in the first place were flawed.” Loading The tension during the committee hearing arose out of Mr Chandler’s refusal to state that he needed more powers, funding or staff to do his job effectively. The committee chairman, Greens MP David Shoebridge, as well as Labor MPs John Graham and Courtney Houssos and Shooters MP Robert Borsak all suggested his job would be compromised if he was required to work with existing staff from the Department of Fair Trading. Mr Borsak said Mr Chandler sounded like he was “drowning” amid all the issues he had to confront. “I’m not drowning,” Mr Chandler replied. “I’m going to be all over this. I’m not drowning.

“I will have whatever resources that are available to me that are needed … but the last thing I want to do is build another organisation that duplicates an existing organisation.” On Mr Chandler’s evidence he would have a staff of between four to five people, but could also draw on departmental resources. He said he would appoint lawyer Bronwyn Weir, a co-author of a report with former public servant Peter Shergold, to help him implement changes. “Regulation and compliance are a centrepiece to this picture,” he said, but “they are not going to change all the issues. We need a sea-change in industry culture.” Unions say response to unlicensed operators 'totally inadequate' Later, Electrical and Trades Union of Australia NSW branch secretary Justin Page said the industry had growing concerns around unlicensed electrical work being carried out in Sydney and NSW.

Mr Page said the city’s infrastructure boom had triggered an influx of unlicensed electricians and overseas electricians. “The legislation in NSW does not allow these workers to carry out electrical work, yet it is rife in Sydney. "These workers are on major government funded projects like NorthConnex, WestConnex, the light rail project, Metro projects and universities across Sydney and NSW. Mr Page said the union had written to Fair Trading NSW “seven to 10 times” about its concerns over unlicensed operators and inadequate supervision for electricians, but had not received a response. He said the proliferation of unlicensed workers was “unlawful” and labelled the regulator’s response as “totally inadequate”.

Mr Page said that Fair Trading NSW and SafeWork NSW had been “deficient” in inspecting electrical work on construction sites. “I don’t believe they’re going out at all.” NSW Plumbing Trades Employees Union assistant secretary Chris Seet told the inquiry there was also a lack of regulation and oversight relating to plumbing work on fire safety systems. “In 20 years, I’ve never seen anyone sign off on anything. I’ve never been asked by an employee when I start with him, can I see your licence to make sure you’re a plumber.” He said plumbers who worked in fire safety dealt with “very complex systems” involving “extreme” temperatures, flammable materials and high water pressure. “If these buildings have failings, there could be deadly consequences.