Infrastructure Minister Eva Lawler has exempted an unspecified number of government buildings from requiring occupancy certificates, while seeming to indicate none had been inspected by certifiers almost 15 months after the government announced a taskforce to investigate non-compliant buildings, and more than 13 months after the Territory’s anti-corruption watchdog launched its own investigation.

The buildings in question are those owned or leased by the NT Government that are non-compliant with the Building Act 1993, including Northern Territory Parliament House, the Darwin Entertainment Centre, the Peter McCauley Centre, Royal Darwin Hospital, as well as other hospitals, schools, health clinics, fire stations and court houses.

Ms Lawler said in a statement on Thursday morning that the so-called Building Compliance Taskforce – which she announced on June 28 last year – had found an unspecified number of buildings on 298 parcels of land across the Territory did not have occupancy certification, and the taskforce’s advice was those parcels of land should be exempt from requiring building occupancy certification under the Building Act 1993 until they are certified.

It is illegal for anyone to occupy a building that does not have an occupancy permit, but Ms Lawler exploited a legal loophole by issuing a ministerial exemption for TIO Stadium last year, after years of the government failing to bring the building up to code.

Ms Lawler did not say if all the buildings on the list released on Thursday would be certified but referenced occupancy certification being achieved for as many buildings as “appropriate”, while later stating one intended action was to, “obtain occupancy certification where possible”.

“The Department of Infrastructure, Planning & Logistics (DIPL) is undertaking work to achieve occupancy certification for as many buildings and building works as appropriate,” Ms Lawler’s statement said.

Ms Lawler did not mention whether the government had any of the buildings inspected by registered building certifiers or had done any work to investigate the specific safety issues, or even if the government knew the exact number of buildings affected.

“To assist in achieving compliance of exempt buildings and building works, DIPL will continue to undertake the following actions: establish a panel contract of building certifiers, who, as part of their work, will undertake inspections; complete audits of buildings and building works on specified land parcels…” the statement said.

Despite this, Ms Lawler said “this exemption does not mean any of the identified buildings are not suitable for occupancy”.

See the list of some of the uncertified government-owned buildings here:

The Building Act states a building is not considered suitable for occupancy until it complies in all material respect to the regulations, which includes occupancy certification.

Ms Lawler did not respond to a long list of questions from the NT Independent, including what evidence she had relied on to make the statement that the latest information did not mean the buildings were unsafe for occupancy, and whether she was attempting to mislead the public about the buildings’ safety.

In June last year, firefighters raised their concerns about safety issues at TIO stadium which led to fire service executives and government officials scrambling ahead of an AFL game to bring in extra measures to protect firefighters and the public.

However, instead of fixing all of the outstanding safety issues, Ms Lawler extended the certification exemption declaration that she had previously issued indefinitely, thereby rendering the building exempt from meeting certification requirements under the Building Act. She has repeatedly claimed the building is “safe”, despite no certifier signing off on it.

On Thursday, Ms Lawler referred to the issue of government buildings not being properly certified as a “legacy administrative matter” rather than a potential safety issue, while providing no indication as to why the decision to blanket exempt these buildings came 15 months after the problem was first publicly announced.

Ms Lawler announced the need to review all government buildings for non-compliance in the same late June 2022 statement announcing the indefinite exemption for TIO stadium, with the first exemption having sparked an Office of the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption investigation into her actions.

On March 9 last year, Ms Lawler issued the then-unprecedented extraordinary ministerial order to exempt the facility from building certification laws meant to protect the public.

The next day ICAC Michael Riches announced he had “decided to conduct an investigation” after making inquiries over the “last several weeks” into the stadium’s lack of an occupancy permit.

About six weeks after Ms Lawler had announced the review of non-compliant buildings, Mr Riches announced a joint investigation with the NT Ombudsman after he said he was made aware “there may be more than 300” public buildings that are not properly certified.

The joint investigation was to look at why those buildings did not comply with occupancy certification requirements under the NT Building Act. Its findings have not been released and no update has been provided on its status.

Ms Lawler said on Thursday the department would also “assess the adequacy of the Building Act 1993“ and make recommendations where required “in consultation with industry”.

“The Territory Government is dedicated to the ongoing upkeep and enhancement of our vital infrastructure assets, including schools, healthcare facilities, and police stations,” she said.

“Today we draw a line in the sand on these legacy building administration matters that have existed for many decades across the Territory.

“While an exemption has been granted, work continues to obtain occupancy certification for these buildings, and all new buildings will obtain occupancy certification.”

Acting DIPL chief executive Louise McCormick was quoted in the NT News stating that the department would release an open tender on Friday to properly audit the buildings on the 298 land parcels, and assured the public “we do everything in accordance with Australian standards and business codes”.

“[This] is the last piece of paperwork really, that we haven’t done or haven’t kept good records of,” she said.

“This will take a good few years to do … with thousands of different structures [on those parcels of land]… But we will work through that systematically to do some of the low-hanging fruit early.”