Originally Posted by pauluk
Welcome to the forum Nev. smile

While comparing Australia and New Zealand, consider the situation here in the U.K. too. Until very recently there were absolutely no controls here over who could do what on his own electrical installation whatsoever.

Since January 2005, however, legislation has brought certain electrical works under the scope of our general Building Regulations, requiring that certain things either be carried out by a suitably accredited person or be reported to the local council for inspection, as with many other building matters. It has done nothing to reduce the number of fatalities; in fact it appeared a while ago that they had increased:

https://www.electrical-contractor.n...pics/146542/Part_P_2_years_on#Post146542

But even if permits or inspections are required, as a matter of principle I do not believe a government has any right to tell a person that he may not carry out any work he wishes on his own house. Requiring it to be done to a certain standard is one thing, but laws prohibiting you from working on your own property have no place in a free country.




The only thing about those figures is that the raw numbers are so small that changes are statistically insignificant and could simply reflect things like a building boom or just pure chance.