MPs issue damning report on BIA and its chief executive

1.00pm

A parliamentary committee has released a damning report on the Building Industry Authority and its former chief executive Bill Porteous, a day after he quit the job.

The Government administration select committee report accused Dr Porteous of showing a lack of leadership in dealing with the leaky homes crisis.

"While we accept that factors beyond the authority's control contributed to the weathertightness issue, we expect authority members to show leadership and to demand greater accountability from its chief executive, the report said.

"We expect the chief executive of an organisation to provide effective leadership and to be seen by the public as doing so."

MPs were split along party lines about how far the report went in blaming Dr Porteous for the leaky homes problem.

National, New Zealand First and United Future MPs said he had "failed" to take control of the problem and they had no confidence in him.

"The seriousness of the deficiencies in the chief executive's performance over the weathertightness issue, coupled with the extent of the damage suffered by thousands of New Zealand homeowners, should have led to the immediate tendering and acceptance of resignation when the issues came to the public's attention in mid-2002," the report said.

A majority of MPs on the committee only partially blamed Dr Porteous, saying his management style and a "structural problem that has existed undetected for a number of years" were at fault.

Dr Porteous yesterday announced he was quitting his chief executive position, effective immediately, following months of criticism over the organisation's handling of the leaky homes crisis. However, he will stay on as chief policy adviser.

The BIA is the Government's watchdog but was slow to detect and report on a problem with rotting houses which is expected to cost tens of millions of dollars to fix.

The report on the financial performance of the BIA was the vehicle for the criticism of Dr Porteous today.

Another report from the same committee about leaky homes is also due to be released later today.

Because of the criticism contained in the report it also contains a response from Dr Porteous.

The criticisms were "neither just nor appropriate... (with) some deficiencies in the analysis."

"My leadership style is one of careful consideration and rational responses -- I am not a creature of the media, I am a building scientist with particular interest in building failure. I make no apology for that," Dr Porteous responded.

The committee was just echoing other commentators that, speaking in hindsight, believed the BIA had been slow to respond, a charge that Dr Porteous said he rejected.

"The criticisms of me by the minority are without foundation... I would hope that the committee would recognise this in its final report, in fairness to me, bearing in mind the impact such comments may have on my reputation and ongoing employment."

Dr Cullen told reporters today Dr Porteous was an expert in technical matters in the building industries and would continue to provide that input.

"He's got strong technical capabilities which are well able to continue to be used. There's no point wasting those technical abilities."

Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel told reporters the blame for the weathertightness issue could not be laid at the feet of one person.

"I don't blame any one individual. There are a lot of factors that came into play."

Dr Porteous yesterday said that since the release of the Hunn Report into Weathertightness six months ago he had come under considerable criticism, as had the authority, for the way the BIA had responded to the weathertightness issue.

BIA chairman Barry Brown said Dr Porteous, who was chief executive for five years, had been under "considerable personal pressure in recent months, including a number of unwarranted attacks".

- NZPA

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