Across Australia, governments, councils and the building industry are grappling with a problem so large, it almost defies belief.
Residential buildings, hospitals, shopping centres and commercial buildings, have been built with flammable aluminium cladding, posing a potentially serious fire risk.
It took the catastrophic Grenfell Tower fire in London, which claimed at least 80 lives, to set off alarm bells here, but as Four Corners reveals, the danger posed by this cladding should not have come as a surprise.
In this program from 2017, Four Corners investigates why huge amounts of this aluminium cladding has been installed on so many of our buildings, and whether a desire to cut costs won out over caution.
Insiders say there has been a colossal failure of regulation and oversight.
With access to the tests now underway on suspect aluminium cladding, we reveal the enormity of the problem facing authorities and ask who will pay to remove and replace it.
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