A front-page report in today's Sydney Morning Herald confirms what has long been suspected - there is a lot of shoddy building work being done in NSW. Reports of leaking apartments and townhouses, cracking basements and carparks, collapsing balconies and much else besides, all in new or recently constructed buildings, have been in the news for a number of years now.

I cannot imagine being in the situation where many of these poor residents are. Having poured life-savings, or invested in large mortgages, to put a decent roof over their heads, they find themselves sometimes in unliveable dwellings. Redress is difficult, costly and slow, with some builders 'going bankrupt' and others tardy in responding to repair orders.

This is one issue that government needs to crack the whip on. Housing is a fundamental right of all people and making sure that folks get what they paid for - at the most basic level - behoves a special vigilance. Fail at this and everything else is at best, secondary in importance.

My heart goes out to these people. Frankly, it is a scandal that requires a prompt response.