'It's like wrapping a building in petrol'

Crossbench senator Nick Xenophon will push for new import laws to ban flammable cladding in the wake of London's deadly Grenfell Tower fire.

A Senate inquiry into non-conforming building products has called for an urgent ban on the importation, sale and use of polyethylene core aluminium composite panels.

"The evidence that we've heard is that putting this sort of cladding on high rise building is like wrapping a building in petrol," Senator Xenophon told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.

Fire retardant cladding only cost $2-$3 a square metre more, he said.

Labor, which dominated the Senate committee, wants the government to stop buck-passing the issue to the states and territories which have control of building codes.

"The public has a right when they go to sleep at night to know that their families and they are safe in their beds and it's the government's responsibility to ensure that's the case," committee chairman Chris Ketter said.

The inquiry found building regulations were inadequate and that greater enforcement of existing rules was needed.

It also recommended the federal government establish a national licensing scheme requiring continued professional development for all builders, inspectors, surveyors and project managers.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been in discussion with the minister responsible, but stressed it was a state issue.

"Part of the problem has been that cladding that is, if you like, able to be used in one context, in one type of building has been used in buildings where it shouldn't have been used," he told Neil Mitchell on 3AW radio.

In a dissenting report, government senators opposed a ban on the cladding while acknowledging there were genuine concerns about its use.

"Banning an individual product will not solve the issue; however consideration should be given to mechanisms to ensure better identification and evidence of suitability for use of these materials along the supply chain," they said.