Insurables — Australian business risk, sourced and dated

Building designers: cyber liability requirements in Australia

Cover for the costs of a data breach or cyber incident, including response, restoration and third-party liability.

Data as at

Verified requirements, by state

  • Licence liability condition: Yes — professional indemnity, and the striking part is that no amount is prescribed. Section 11 of the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 bars a registered design practitioner from providing a design compliance declaration, doing related building work, or holding out as adequately insured, unless adequately insured. The Regulation then requires the policy to extend the indemnity to all liability incurred at any time since the practitioner first became registered — full retroactivity to first registration. On the amount, the Regulation says the policy must, in the practitioner's own reasonable opinion, provide an adequate level of indemnity, and lists the factors that opinion must weigh: the nature and risks of the work typically carried out, its volume, how long the practitioner has been registered, a reasonable estimate of claims that could be brought, the practitioner's financial capacity, and the policy's own limits and exclusions. The Act contains a power to prescribe an amount; it has not been used. NSW · effective 2026-08-25 New South Wales Government · 2026-08-25
  • Licence evidence required: Three obligations, and the middle one catches people out. It is a condition of registration to give the Secretary, in the time specified, whatever information the Secretary requires to be satisfied the practitioner is adequately insured. It is also a condition to keep written records of how the practitioner determined the policy provides an adequate level of indemnity, keep them for at least five years, and produce copies on written request — so the reasoning behind the judgement has to be documented, not just the policy. And ceasing to be covered is a notifiable event within seven days. The Secretary can compel insurers to disclose policy information about registered practitioners. No automatic suspension provision was located; lapse is a notifiable event and a disciplinary ground. NSW · effective 2026-08-25 New South Wales Government · 2026-08-25
  • Licensing body: Building design is an express registered class in New South Wales — three of them, in fact. The Design and Building Practitioners Regulation 2021 prescribes design practitioner classes including building design, building design (low rise) and building design (medium rise), alongside separate architectural, facade, fire safety engineering and fire systems classes. Registration is with the Secretary of the Department of Customer Service through Building Commission NSW. The scope has hard edges: a building design practitioner may prepare or vary a regulated design for building work other than a class 2 building and make a design compliance declaration for it, but is not authorised where the work would constitute an architectural service under the Architects Act 2003, or professional engineering work, or falls to one of the fire systems classes. NSW · effective 2026-08-25 NSW Government · 2026-08-25
  • Licence liability condition: Yes — professional indemnity, with the amount set two ways depending on how the policy treats defence costs. The Ministerial Order made under section 135 of the Building Act 1993 requires a limit of indemnity of not less than $1.5 million for any one claim and in the aggregate where defence costs are included in the limit, or, where they are not, not less than $1 million for any one claim and in the aggregate plus not less than $500,000 for any one claim and in the aggregate for defence costs. At least one automatic reinstatement is required, and a cladding-related exclusion is permitted. Two cross-recognitions are worth knowing: a practitioner in this category who is a registered architect holding architects-scheme cover is treated as covered, as is one covered under an approved co-operative policy meeting the current architects requirements. VIC · effective 2026-08-25 Victoria Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: The same rhythm as every other registered practitioner class: coverage is the financial probity test at registration, and then written proof to the Authority on or before each anniversary of registration that cover will run to the next anniversary, with an examination fee. VIC · effective 2026-08-25 Victoria Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: Building designer is a registered category of building practitioner in Victoria under Part 11 of the Building Act 1993, in three classes: building design (architectural), building design (interior) and building design (services). The category was previously called draftsperson and was renamed, which is why older instruments and older advice still use that word. Architects are expressly excluded from the definition of building practitioner and are registered under their own Act. VIC · effective 2026-08-25 Victoria Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: Yes, for all classes: you must demonstrate professional indemnity insurance to apply for a contractor licence in the building design class, meeting the minimum standard set in the QBCC financial requirements regulation. QLD · effective 1991-12-01 Queensland Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: A certificate of currency, OR a statutory declaration verifying the insurance complies with the minimum standard, OR — where the insurance was arranged through a broker — a receipt from the broker showing the premium has been paid. Three accepted forms, which is more flexible than most. QLD · effective 1991-12-01 Queensland Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: The Queensland Building and Construction Commission, which licenses building design in three classes — low rise, medium rise and open. Queensland licenses building design as a trade in its own right, which most states do not. QLD · effective 1991-12-01 Queensland Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: Not applicable — this is not a registered class in Western Australia, so there is no registration for an insurance condition to attach to. Where insurance does bite in the WA building services scheme it is on two contractor families only: building surveying contractors and building engineering contractors. Builders and painting contractors carry no insurance requirement in the registration Regulations at all. WA · effective 2026-08-25 Western Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: None, since the work is unregistered. WA · effective 2026-08-25 Western Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: Building design is not a registered class in Western Australia. The word designer does not appear anywhere in the Building Services (Registration) Regulations 2011, whose prescribed class list is exhaustive. The design references in that instrument are all to certificates of design compliance, an interstate recognition list, or qualification names. Architects are registered under their own separate Act, and the engineering and surveying streams are registered — building designers as such are not. WA · effective 2026-08-25 Western Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: Not applicable — there is no licence for a condition to attach to. Nor does the building work contractor licence itself carry a professional indemnity or public liability condition: every insurance reference in the Building Work Contractors Act 1995 sits in the building indemnity insurance Division or in the provision prohibiting misuse of a licence number to obtain such a policy. SA · effective 2026-08-25 South Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: Not applicable. No building designer licence exists in South Australia. SA · effective 2026-08-25 South Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: Building design is not a licensed occupation in South Australia, and the reason is structural rather than an oversight. The Building Work Contractors Act 1995 licenses building work, which it defines as physical work — constructing, erecting, underpinning, altering, repairing, improving, adding to or demolishing a building, excavating or filling a site for it, and the classes the regulations add such as pools, paving, fencing, insulation, painting, air conditioning, solar panels and plumbing, gas and electrical work. Design, drafting and documentation appear nowhere in that definition. Building consultant is sometimes mistaken for a licence class but it is not one: the term is defined only in the discipline Part of the Act, as a person other than a registered architect who carries on the business of giving advice or furnishing reports about domestic building work. There is no licensing or registration of building consultants — they are exposed to disciplinary action without ever having been licensed. SA · effective 2026-08-25 South Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: Yes, but Tasmania puts the number somewhere almost nobody looks. Section 27(1) of the Occupational Licensing Act 2005 provides that the Administrator may, by notice published in the Gazette, require licence holders to be covered by insurance of a type and to an amount specified in the notice. The requirement is offence-backed: section 29(3A) bars a building services provider from carrying out building services work, or allowing it under their licence, without the section 27 cover. The type and amount live in that Gazette notice rather than in the Act, the Regulations or the Determination — which is why a figure cannot be quoted here. The Act itself never distinguishes professional indemnity from public liability; the word indemnity appears zero times across its 183 pages. TAS · effective 2026-08-25 Tasmania Government · 2026-08-25
  • Licence evidence required: Production on request, not a gate at the counter. Section 29(5) requires a contractor or building services provider to produce a certificate of currency or other evidence of the required cover on request by an owner or occupier of the land the work is carried out on. The Building Services Work Regulations 2016 contain no issue or renewal insurance gate — a notable contrast with electrical work, where regulation 9(1) blocks issue or renewal unless the Administrator is satisfied a current policy is held and its term extends into the licence period. There is no automatic suspension on lapse either: the word lapse appears zero times in the Act, and insurance lapse is not among the section 46 cancellation grounds. Enforcement runs through the section 29 offences instead. TAS · effective 2026-08-25 Tasmania Government · 2026-08-25
  • Licensing body: Building design is licensed in Tasmania as building services work. Schedule 2 Part 4 item 2 of the Occupational Licensing Act 2005 brings within the Act the design of premises, buildings, building work, temporary structures, plumbing work or plumbing installations. Licence classes are set by the Occupational Licensing (Building Services Work) Determination, administered by Consumer, Building and Occupational Services. TAS · effective 2026-08-25 Tasmania Government · 2026-08-25
  • Licence liability condition: No insurance condition on the licence. Only four of the ten ACT construction occupations carry one — building assessor, building surveyor, plumbing plan certifier and works assessor — and all four are professional indemnity, not public liability. The trade classes carry none. What does apply to every licensee, including this one, is section 47 of the Construction Occupations (Licensing) Act 2004: before providing a construction service the licensee must give the client evidence of what insurance they hold. The Act treats advertising the cover as sufficient, and gives the example of details on the vehicle used to provide the service. ACT · effective 2026-08-25 Australian Capital Territory Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: Nothing is lodged with the registrar, because there is no insurance requirement on this work to evidence. The disclosure duty in section 47 still runs to the client rather than the regulator: whatever cover is held has to be shown to the client before the service is provided, and a fidelity certificate counts as evidence of insurance for that purpose. ACT · effective 2026-08-25 Australian Capital Territory Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: Building design is not a separately licensed occupation in the ACT. Section 7 of the Construction Occupations (Licensing) Act 2004 sets out the complete list of construction occupations in the ACT, and there are ten: builder, building assessor, building surveyor, drainer, electrician, gasfitter, gas appliance worker, plumber, plumbing plan certifier and works assessor. The phrase building designer does not appear at all in either the Act or the Regulation. ACT · effective 2026-08-25 Australian Capital Territory Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: Not applicable. With no building designer registration in the Territory there is no registration for an insurance condition to attach to. A designer who is also a registered architect is covered by the Architects Act 1963 requirement instead, which is one of the strictest in the country. NT · effective 2026-08-25 Northern Territory Government · 2026-08-25
  • Licence evidence required: Not applicable. No building designer registration exists in the Northern Territory. NT · effective 2026-08-25 Northern Territory Government · 2026-08-25
  • Licensing body: Building design is not a registered occupation in the Northern Territory. The word designer does not appear anywhere in the Building Act 1993 or the Building Regulations 1993. The Building Practitioners Board registers five categories — building certifier, certifying architect, certifying plumber, certifying engineer and building contractor — and certifying architect is a certification role rather than a design one. NT · effective 2026-08-25 Northern Territory Government · 2026-08-25

What contracts commonly ask for

Principals and head contractors set their own insurance requirements, and those are frequently higher than a licence condition. The requirement that binds is the higher of the two, and both have to be read from the actual document.

What this cover costs

This site publishes no cost benchmark for this cover. A benchmark needs a real sample of documents, and none is published until the sample is large enough to compute a median honestly. A benchmark from a handful of policies is a guess with a decimal point.

Sources