Building sector still at a standstill

Construction projects across the Greater Sydney region remain at a standstill despite a government commitment to lift its building ban on Saturday.

Construction on the new Sydney Football Stadium at Moore Park has stopped during the Covid-19 lockdown. Picture: Toby Zerna

Major construction projects across the Greater Sydney region remained at a standstill at the weekend despite a state government commitment to lift its building ban on Saturday after a two-week pause to stop the spread of Covid-19.

Industry leaders say Saturday’s reopening does not provide the instant kick-start it needs, as LGA lockdowns in the southwest continue to prevent the return of a large section of the workforce and stymie construction activity.

While senior government ministers have pushed for a rapid return of major construction projects across the Greater Sydney region, sites in Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown, Liverpool, Cumberland, Blacktown, Parramatta, George’s River and Campbelltown will remain closed, with workers from there unable to attend building sites outside their respective LGAs.

Australian Constructors Association chief executive Jon Davies said the much-anticipated reopening should be regarded as a red herring because major infrastructure projects would not be restarting “in any real form” because of labour shortages and the absence of key site managers and operators of crucial equipment.

“What we will see on Monday is nothing like the substantial reopening we thought would happen and I’m beginning to question whether there is any real commitment from the government to see key construction open at all,” Mr Davies said.

Analysis published by ANZ estimates more than 40 per cent of the construction workforce resides in the eight affected LGAs, with more than one-third of residential construction to remain closed despite Saturday’s reopening. Limits on workers onsite and measures to minimise contact are expected to slow activity further, with constraints set to hit the sector harder than in early 2020.

Civic infrastructure projects including Western Sydney Airport, Northern Road, West­Connex 3A and 3B and Sydney Football Stadium are expected to remain inactive due to labour shortages or their locations within high-risk LGAs.

“The industry has been lobbying Infrastructure NSW for more than a week to update the authorised workers list to include key construction workers, but they’ve told us this is unlikely to happen,” Mr Davies said.

Despite petitioning the government to permit major civic projects, ACA says influential voices continue to resist “reasonable proposals” to reboot the sector. “We’re talking about big projects where it’s very safe to socially distance on worksites. Last year, Victoria managed to keep its sector operating during its outbreak and that can happen here,” he said.

NSW CFMEU secretary Darren Greenfield said many of the workers locked into the eight LGAs played a critical role on work sites not just in building but also supervising activities and overseeing safety standards.