I’d sooner risk jail than risk a stranger seeing my shit.

The strict laws around employing tradies is borderline insane if not outright bonkers in Australia.

Yes, some electrical things are beyond me but changing taps isn’t particularly difficult apart from say, annoying tools one might need beyond a basic spanner.

I feel it’s originally a sop to the trades classes for a vote rather than anything sensible.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Steve Walding, principal policy officer at WA regulator Building and Energy, told Nadia Mitsopoulos on ABC Radio Perth that the February 10 change to legislation was an overdue reform.

“But work on the plumbing legislation has been slow over the years and we’ve included this in a wider reform package, so there’s been a bit of a wait there.”

The legislation now allows residents at their own home to legally undertake basic plumbing tasks, including maintaining, repairing and replacing showerheads, taps, cistern washers and water filter cartridges, and to clear a blocked pipe or toilet with a plunger.They lost the right to do this in the Plumbers Licensing and Plumbing Standards Regulations, introduced 24 years ago in 2000.

Replacing a water heater, toilet suite or repairing a burst pipe are all examples of tasks that require a professional, Mr Walding said.

Murray Thomas, chief executive of the Plumbers and Gasfitters Association of WA, welcomed the changes.

He said it was not uncommon for plumbers to be called to help people who have had their home plumbing work go wrong.

The original article contains 530 words, the summary contains 178 words. Saved 66%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!