‘No chance’ of Queensland meeting housing targets: building industry

Queensland’s building industry warns the new Crisafulli government cannot meet its housing targets without a major regulatory shake-up.

CFMEU members march on Parliament House to protest against the new LNP government’s scrapping of BPICs and automatic right to entry powers. Picture: Glenn Campbell

The cost and time it takes to build an apartment block in Queensland has doubled in four years and the new Crisafulli government has “no chance” of meeting its annual target of 50,000 new homes without a major regulatory shake-up, the building industry has warned.

Liberal National Party treasurer David Janetzki introduced legislation on Thursday to re-establish the state’s Productivity Commission – abolished by the former Labor government in 2021 – and declared it would deliver a comprehensive review of the state’s construction industry by the middle of next year.

The government has already suspended the union-backed Best Practice Industry Conditions (BPICs) for major state-funded projects, which forced contractors to negotiate agreements with unions that guaranteed conditions including 26 rostered days off a year, on top of public holidays and annual leave.

This week, construction workers and unions rallied in Brisbane to protest the dumping of BPICs and the LNP’s plan to remove the automatic right of entry to worksites for permit holders, usually union representatives.

Industrial Relations Minister Jarrod Bleijie said the right to entry reforms – introduced into parliament on Thursday – would “stop the CFMEU using safety as an industrial weapon”.

Housing Industry Association Queensland executive director Michael Roberts said he’d tell anyone who criticised the re-establishment of the Productivity Commission: “sorry, but we need more homes to be built”.

“The government has set a target of 50,000 homes a year. We’ve got absolutely no chance of meeting that target under the current regulatory regime,” Mr Roberts said.

He said having an advisory body acting on behalf of the building industry was especially important in Queensland, as it only has one house of parliament.

“Not having the Productivity Commission means we don’t have any independent oversight of issues affecting productivity in the state,” he said.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli and Treasurer David Janetzki at parliament on Thursday. Picture: Tertius Pickard

Urban Development Institute of Australia Queensland chief executive officer Kirsty Chessher-Brown said delayed builds were costing Queenslanders.

“Our estimations based on data from our members indicate that it now takes double the amount of time and double the cost now, compared to pre-Covid, to deliver an apartment building. That ultimately impacts, not only the price of those apartments, but also the amount of supply in Queensland’s system,” Ms Chessher-Brown said.

“There are differing factors ranging from productivity on construction sites, skills availability, the availability of contractors and our planning and legislative environment that contribute to the cost and the time it takes to deliver housing on the ground, all of which we would expect the Productivity Commission’s review to investigate.”

She said the looming 2032 Olympics made improving Queensland’s productivity even more urgent, and welcomed the systematic review.

“We in Queensland obviously have a very significant infrastructure pipeline and the Olympics on our doorstep, so we need to leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of a lift in participation capacity, capability and also productivity in the construction sector,” she said.

“There’s a real role for an objective, evidence based, independent inquiry into some of the critical factors that have been impacting the property industry (and) its ability to deliver housing over some decades.”

Master Builders Queensland executive manager of advocacy and member services Michael Hopkins said the government’s move to pause BPICs was “a good start,” but there were other issues the commission should investigate.

“These include the impact of the high regulatory burden, issues around work and skill shortages, making the temporary BPIC pause permanent and potentially looking at other ways to restore productivity and make sustainable, positive change for the industry,” Mr Hopkins said.