Every Australian state and territory now restricts or effectively bans the use of combustible cladding on certain building types. The baseline comes from the National Construction Code, but several states have layered additional requirements on top - registrations, declarations, audit programs, and government-funded rectification schemes that go well beyond the NCC’s Deemed-to-Satisfy provisions.
This article sets out what applies in each jurisdiction as of early 2026, what the NCC baseline requires, and what the distinction between combustible and non-combustible means in practice.
What is the NCC baseline for combustible cladding?
The National Construction Code applies in every state and territory. For external wall cladding on Type A and Type B construction - which covers most multi-storey commercial, residential, and institutional buildings - the Deemed-to-Satisfy provisions under C2D10 require external cladding materials to be non-combustible.
Non-combustible, as defined by the NCC, means a material that passes AS 1530.1:1994. This is the combustibility test - small specimens placed in a tube furnace at 750 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes. The material either passes (non-combustible) or it does not (combustible). There is no partial classification.
This is where the ACP distinction matters. Aluminium composite panels with polyethylene (PE) cores are combustible - the aluminium skins are not the problem, but the polymer core fails AS 1530.1. Solid aluminium panels (like element13 at 3mm) and extruded aluminium products (like interloQ) are inherently non-combustible. There is no core, no filler, no organic content to compromise the classification.
Every state adopts the NCC. But some have gone further.
What are the combustible cladding rules in NSW?
New South Wales has one of the most structured regulatory responses in the country, driven by the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (DBPA). The Act introduced several mechanisms that directly affect cladding selection and documentation.
Registered practitioners and declarations. Under the DBPA, building designers and practitioners involved in regulated designs must be registered. They are required to make design compliance declarations confirming that their work complies with the Building Code of Australia. The practitioner signing the declaration is personally accountable for the compliance of the cladding specified.
PE core ban in practice. NSW’s declaration framework makes the use of PE-core ACP on Type A and B buildings effectively impossible without a Performance Solution. Practitioners are unlikely to declare compliance for a product that does not satisfy the DTS non-combustibility requirement, and certifiers are unlikely to accept it.
Cladding Product Safety Panel. NSW established this panel to assess building products and provide advice to the NSW Building Commissioner. It has the authority to issue warnings, restrictions, and bans on specific products.
Project Remediate. For existing buildings, the NSW Government’s Project Remediate program provides interest-free loans to owners corporations of residential apartment buildings identified as having combustible cladding. The program has been extended to 2027, with over $105 million in targeted investment. Hansen Yuncken was appointed as managing contractor.
Fire Safety Orders. NSW councils and Fire and Rescue NSW can issue fire safety orders requiring building owners to address combustible cladding. These are enforceable and can require removal and replacement within specified timeframes.
The cumulative effect is a regulatory environment where combustible cladding on multi-storey buildings in NSW is not just non-compliant but practically uninsurable, difficult to certify, and subject to active enforcement.
What is Victoria doing about combustible cladding?
Victoria has the most aggressive remediation response of any state, reflecting the scale of the problem - Melbourne’s residential construction boom coincided with the period when PE-core ACPs were widely used and competitively priced.
Cladding Safety Victoria (CSV). Established in 2020 as a dedicated government agency, CSV oversees the state’s entire remediation program. The Victorian Government has allocated over $600 million to cladding rectification, making it the largest state investment of its kind in Australia. The program has been extended to 2027.
Risk-based assessment. CSV has assessed over 1,000 privately owned apartment buildings, prioritising by fire risk. The agency provides funding, project oversight, and construction management through its Cladding Rectification Program.
VBA cladding audit program. The Victorian Building Authority conducts cladding audits on both existing and new buildings. For new construction, the VBA actively reviews building permits and can intervene where non-compliant cladding is proposed or installed.
As of late 2025, CSV had entered its second phase focusing on lower-risk buildings. The pipeline of rectification work in Victoria extends well into the late 2020s.
How does Queensland regulate combustible cladding?
Queensland’s approach has been structured around a three-phase model - identify, mitigate, rectify - administered through the Safer Buildings program by the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC).
Combustible Cladding Checklist. Owners of eligible Class 2-9 buildings (Type A or B construction, approved between January 1994 and October 2018) were required to register and complete this checklist. The registration deadline closed in May 2021.
Building owner responsibility. Where combustible cladding was identified, building owners are responsible for engaging fire engineers and developing remediation plans. Unlike NSW and Victoria, Queensland has not established a large-scale government-funded rectification program for private buildings. Owners and body corporates carry the financial burden - often through special levies that can run to tens of thousands of dollars per lot.
Government buildings and enforcement. The Queensland Government has addressed its own building stock, with 99 percent of government buildings either rectified or undergoing remediation. The QBCC retains authority to take enforcement action where building owners have not addressed identified combustible cladding.
What about the ACT?
The ACT Government’s response includes building legislation amendments and a Cladding Rectification Program led by Infrastructure Canberra.
Concessional Loan Scheme. The ACT provides concessional loans to owners corporations of eligible buildings for cladding removal and replacement. Government-owned buildings were addressed first, with 23 government buildings remediated by late 2022.
Compliance documentation focus. The ACT has placed particular emphasis on the documentation trail - requiring clear evidence of non-combustibility for cladding products used on new buildings, consistent with the NCC’s evidence of suitability provisions.
What are the rules in Western Australia?
Western Australia introduced Building Amendment Regulations addressing combustible cladding on high-risk buildings, centred on cladding audit requirements for existing buildings and strengthened compliance checking for new construction.
Cladding audits. Building owners of certain multi-storey buildings have been required to engage qualified assessors to determine whether combustible cladding is present and to assess the fire risk. Where non-compliance is found, remediation plans are required.
Building permit scrutiny. WA’s building permit authorities have increased scrutiny of external wall specifications on new applications, focusing on evidence of non-combustibility for cladding products.
How is South Australia approaching this?
South Australia has taken a standards-based approach through Ministerial Building Standard MBS 002, which specifically addresses cladding on certain buildings.
MBS 002. This standard imposes additional requirements for cladding products on buildings above a certain height, requiring documented evidence of non-combustibility and, in some cases, additional fire testing beyond the NCC baseline. SA has also conducted audits of buildings with potentially non-compliant cladding. The approach has been less publicly visible than NSW or Victoria, but the regulatory requirements are substantive.
What about Tasmania and the Northern Territory?
Tasmania and the Northern Territory have not established dedicated rectification programs on the scale of the eastern seaboard states. Both adopt the NCC, so the C2D10 non-combustibility requirements apply to Type A and B construction.
Tasmania has conducted targeted audits and relies on its building surveyor network to enforce NCC compliance on new construction. The smaller building stock means the scale of the issue is more contained, but the regulatory requirements are no less strict.
Northern Territory follows a similar pattern - NCC compliance is the baseline, and building certifiers are responsible for verifying that external cladding meets non-combustibility requirements.
What does this mean for product selection?
The common thread across every jurisdiction is that combustible cladding on multi-storey buildings is either explicitly banned, practically uninsurable, or subject to active enforcement and remediation. The NCC’s C2D10 non-combustibility requirement is the floor. State-specific declarations, audit regimes, and practitioner registration requirements layer additional accountability on top.
For anyone specifying facade products, the implications are straightforward. Products that are non-combustible to AS 1530.1 satisfy the baseline requirement in every state. Products that are combustible require a Performance Solution - fire engineering input, additional cost, additional time, and a level of project risk that most teams prefer to avoid.
The regulatory environment also favours suppliers who can provide complete compliance documentation. Test reports from NATA-accredited laboratories, compliance packs, and warranty documentation are now standard expectations - because practitioners making declarations, certifiers signing off, and building owners carrying long-term liability all need documented evidence that the products on the facade are what they claim to be.
Where do Valmond & Gibson products sit?
Valmond & Gibson supplies aluminium facade systems that are non-combustible by nature. There is no core material, no organic filler, and no additive that the classification depends on.
interloQ interlocking rainscreen panels are extruded aluminium, tested non-combustible to AS 1530.1 by CSIRO (NATA accreditation #165, report FNC12595).
element13 solid aluminium panels at 3mm are tested non-combustible to AS 1530.1 by CSIRO (report FNC12545), with AS 1530.3 results of Ignitability 0, Flame 0, Heat 0, Smoke 1 (report FNE12552).
Both products satisfy the C2D10 non-combustibility requirement through the Deemed-to-Satisfy pathway in every Australian state and territory. Report numbers are available for direct citation in specifications, and compliance packs are available for certifier review.
Solid aluminium and extruded aluminium are the materials the regulations were written to encourage - inherently non-combustible, well-documented, and straightforward to certify.
Working on a project where combustible cladding compliance is a concern? Talk to our team for compliance packs, test reports, and specification support.
Related Reading
- DBPA NSW: What Facade Suppliers and Installers Need to Know
- Insurance Implications of Facade Material Selection
- Non-Combustible vs Fire Retardant: The NCC Distinction
- Recladding with Solid Aluminium
Last updated: 4 April 2026