Dutton pledges $5b to fast-track water and roads to new homes

Construction on up to half a million homes would be sped up by a $5 billion Coalition fund to build the water, power and road infrastructure needed to get housing projects off the ground.

In the opposition’s most significant housing policy to date, leader Peter Dutton will promise to simplify building rules and pay contractors to connect new homes on the fringes of cities and towns to the utilities and transport networks that can delay construction.

Peter Dutton and his housing spokesman Michael Sukkar.Credit: AAP

Dutton will on Saturday detail a plan to pay councils, utility companies or developers – who must use the money within a year or lose it – from a new Housing Infrastructure Programme to build the infrastructure, playing a role traditionally filled by state governments.

Dutton, who has been under pressure from Labor to release policies before an election due by May, argued the acute housing affordability crisis justified the federal government stepping in.

“We know there are hundreds of greenfield sites across the country ready for development, but progress has been stalled due to a lack of funding for essential enabling infrastructure,” Dutton said in a statement with his frontbenchers Michael Sukkar and Bridget McKenzie.

“The government’s housing crisis is failing Australians. Labor’s promise to build 1.2 million homes over five years has already failed, with industry leaders confirming a likely shortfall of more than 400,000 homes.”

The Coalition wants to build more freestanding houses in the suburbs.Credit: Justin McManus

The statement did not say how the Coalition arrived at the figure of accelerating the development of 500,000 homes.

This masthead reported last month that the NSW government had ordered Sydney’s water authority to up its game after years of underinvestment in capital workers had slowed down the release of land for greenfield developments.

Dutton’s plan builds on the Coalition’s existing pledge to free up 100,000 homes by cutting migration dramatically and banning temporary residents from buying homes for two years.

His focus highlights how crucial housing affordability will be at the next election, a political debate Labor and the Greens have dominated while the Coalition developed its policies. Those policies will also include a commitment to review recent changes to Australia’s building code, which the Master Builders have estimated can add $60,000 to the cost of a new home, and freeze the rules for 10 years.

The Housing Infrastructure Programme is reminiscent of the Coalition-era National Housing Infrastructure Facility, which Labor topped up by $1 billion last year.

Labor has also legislated $3 billion for state governments to encourage home building, a $10 billion investment fund to build social housing, and a shared equity scheme that is being blocked by the Coalition and Greens in parliament.

The government has attacked Dutton for limited detail in some of his signature policies, including his plans for nuclear power and vow to bring down migration.

Coalition sources said the party had already been talking to councils and claimed about 100 were interested in using its planned fund.

Government figures show the number of homes being built has decreased significantly from 57,545 in the June quarter of 2016 to 40,844 in the same quarter this year due to a mix of high interest rates, labour shortages and expensive materials.

The party also said it would deregister the scandal-plagued CFMEU which Labor has placed into administration.

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