Media Release – 20 October 2011
As Federal Parliament passes the Carbon Tax, legislators and policy makers should now turn their minds to making a viable and adoptable national mandatory disclosure energy rating scheme says Stewart Bunn, communications manager of First National Real Estate.
“We support mandatory disclosure of a home’s energy rating, which is where this nation, and the rest of the world, is heading,” Mr Bunn said.
“But we need to make sure the proper policy and regulations are in place, and that the appropriate people play the right roles.”
According to Mr Bunn, the crucial component to success is a national and consistent approach.
“Each state already has a ratings scheme in place, but there are no national standards and regulations,” Mr Bunn said.
“A number of studies conducted by both industry and academia have found ratings and results to be inconsistent. This can be due to software flaws or subjective interpretation of results and can be compounded by a lack of correlation between the actual energy performance of houses and their star ratings.
Mr Bunn said the real solution to the mandatory disclosure issue lay with government and industry working together.
“Government needs to get the scheme right and put in place the appropriate financial support, resources and implementation,” Mr Bunn said.
“That means getting the regulations and policies passed, educating the general public on the benefits of energy efficiency ratings and funding ongoing research and development.
“It then falls to real estate agents to promote the ratings through the marketing of the properties they have on their books to buyers and lessors.”
The real question then, says Mr Bunn, is how assessors are selected, trained and accredited. It is important that they are independent of the real estate profession so no potential conflict of interest is perceived by consumers.
“This is the tricky part of the equation,” Mr Bunn said.
The First National Real Estate network is committed to environmentally efficient principles and prides itself on its green initiatives – it fully supports a national mandatory disclosure of energy efficient ratings scheme, as long as all players act in the interest of the environment.
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For further information contact Stewart Bunn, National Communications Manager, on 1800 032 332
Categories: Media Releases
Tags: Australia, australian real estate, australian real estate blogs, Bunn, Business and Economy, Carbon tax, Energy, first national real estate, National Communications Manager, October 2011, property, real estate, stewart bunn
