Australia’s housing shortage has reached critical levels, and this week, top industry leaders and government officials gathered to address a major bottleneck: construction regulations.
The Cabinet Room Economic Reform Roundtable dedicated an entire day to discussing how red tape is slowing down residential construction and what can be done about it.
A Push to Freeze or Rewrite the Construction Code
The second day of the national think-tank focused on a bold proposal: freezing or rewriting the National Construction Code. The goal is to accelerate home building and meet the Federal Government’s ambitious target of building 1.2 million homes over the next five years.
According to both Treasury and the housing sector, the current pace of construction is far too slow to meet demand, and regulatory complexity is a key culprit.
“It’s about, how do you get a process under way to reform that construction code, to make it simpler? I think there’s a recognition that it’s incredibly complex, that it overreaches at the moment and makes the process unwieldy,”
— Andrew McKellar, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Regulation: A Double-Edged Sword?
Federal Housing Minister Clare O’Neil, who attended the roundtable, acknowledged the problem. She pointed out that while regulation plays an important role in ensuring safety and compliance, current red tape is stifling builder productivity.
“We have made it incredibly difficult for builders to do what they do best… So the national construction code I’m sure will be a part of that conversation,”
— Clare O’Neil, Federal Housing Minister
She confirmed that a temporary freeze on the National Construction Code is actively being considered, pending further consultation with industry stakeholders.
Not Yet Unanimous, But Momentum Is Building
Despite differing opinions among roundtable participants, Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers expressed optimism that major reforms could be agreed upon soon.
“Day two of the reform roundtable was really dominated by how we can boost housing supply, how we can responsibly reduce and improve regulation and speed up approvals,”
— Jim Chalmers, Federal Treasurer
He welcomed policy suggestions and said the government is enthusiastic about many of the proposals made during the summit.
Confidence in the Building Industry Hinges on Clarity
Bran Black, CEO of the Business Council of Australia, noted that while opinions vary, there is broad support for a temporary freeze on the construction code. He argued this would provide builders with greater confidence in the short term while longer-term reforms are worked out.
“If the national code is frozen it gives us a bit more time to get the interactions between national standards and state standards clear,” he said. “It will give a lot of confidence to people who are looking to build right now.”
