Cladding audit yet to be completed

An audit that started two years ago into how many commonwealth government department buildings across the nation were built with flammable cladding has yet to be completed.

Trevor Power, a division head within the Department of Industry which is bringing the findings together, told the Senate economics committee on Thursday there are 190 government departments and agencies covering 30,000 buildings.

Eleven buildings so far required "rectification".

Asked by Labor senator Jenny McAllister whether the audit has been completed, Mr Power said: "No, it's not totally completed, it is very, very well progressed."

Asked what departments had completed the audit, Mr Power said he didn't know and would take the question on notice.

Senator McAllister was surprised he didn't have the answer as his department was the lead agency compiling the audit.

"There has been a very large amount of communication," Mr Power said.

An exasperated Senator McAllister was unimpressed.

"Whether or not departments have been writing to one another isn't the key issue," she said.

"I'm trying to understand the state of knowledge about flammable cladding and its use in commonwealth buildings."

She said members of the public were concerned about safety, when they were working, visiting or living in commonwealth buildings.

Deputy secretary of the Department of Industry Mike Lawson said it was a "difficult and ongoing" process.

He assured the committee the agencies are very conscious of their legal responsibility under occupational health and safety laws and for the safety of their people and buildings.

A committee heard on Wednesday Defence had audited its buildings following the deadly Grenfell Tower fire in London in June 2017, initially finding 208 buildings could be at risk.

Fire engineers have since narrowed the list down to five non-compliant buildings in four states.