Coronavirus: Building products industry on ‘cliff’s edge’

Manufacturers in the construction industry risked ‘falling off an incredible cliff’ from October, a union leader warned.

Australian Workers Union national secretary Daniel Walton. Picture: Grant Wells

Manufacturers in the construction industry risk “falling off an incredible cliff” from October unless governments commit to urgent stamp duty relief and additional incentives for home buyers, a national union leader has warned.

Daniel Walton, national secretary of the Australian Workers Union, slammed the federal government’s HomeBuilder grants scheme as “half-baked”, claiming the minimum $150,000 renovation spend, as well as the income threshold for applicants, would ­restrict access.

“The bar is just ridiculous in terms of the $150k spend, and then it’s means-tested for income,” he said. “Instead of doing something that will have meaningful change, they have tried to find what is the cheapest way possible to be seen to be doing something.”

Due to the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on the housing market, manufacturing companies in the construction sector were facing a very sharp drop in activity from October.

“When they finish their existing work, there will be a huge gap,” he said. “My prediction is come the end of October, you are going to have a huge number of manufacturers who make construction products, and a huge share of people in the construction industry — coming off the back of the government potentially shutting off JobKeeper — who are looking at falling off an incredible cliff.

“We are going to be sitting there wondering where did it all go wrong. And that’s what we worry about for our members. We have got to get things moving now because we can see it coming.”

Mr Walton said state governments should consider reducing or waiving stamp duty for homebuyers, and consider other incentives.

He said the federal government should consider reducing the threshold on the HomeBuilder grants scheme where applicants committed to using Australian-made construction products.

“Why don’t you throw a sweetener on top? If you can say you bought Australian doors or Australian glass or Australian floorboards or you have bought a Colorbond roof, why should there not be extra dollars coming your way because you have made a bigger difference to the rebuilding of the Australian economy than the neighbour who supported overseas nations,” he said.