The Minister for Public Works, Mick de Brenni, said the new time frames had come after industry groups and participants had asked for more time.
Already the framework includes eligible private, local government, statutory authorities and government-owned corporations’ contracts valued at $10 million or more.
It had been planned to expand it to 1 July 2022 to include eligible private, local government, statutory authorities and government-owned corporations’ contracts valued at $3 million or more (phase 3), and to 1 January 2023 to include all eligible contracts valued at $1 million or more (phase 4).
Phase 3 would now begin on 1 April 2023 and phase 4 on 1 October 2023.
Mr de Brenni said analysis of industry readiness for expansion of the trust account framework has enabled application to large contractors from 1 January 2022, however it identified additional time for smaller contractors would be beneficial to the framework’s overall success.
“This analysis, which included 40 consultation sessions with stakeholders from all sectors of the industry, considered the state of the industry and its readiness for the next phases,” he said.
“The findings gave us the confidence to go ahead with the process of applying project trust accounts, including retention trust accounts, to private sector contractors working on projects over $10M on 1 January 2022, which we did, but we are now providing a window of extra time for smaller operators.
“Because of the significance of these changes, and the need for industry to be fully across them, the next phase will now start on 1 April 2023.”
Mr de Brenni said the final round, phase 4, will begin on 1 October 2023.
“These two remaining phases are the final step for roll out of the trust framework and will bring peace of mind to thousands more subcontractors,” he said.
In the interim, construction companies can continue to use the other existing security of payment protections available including adjudication, payment withholding requests, charges over property, subcontractors’ charges and monies owed complaints.
