Tens of thousands more homes targeted following economic reform roundtable
Labor will freeze part of the National Construction Code and accelerate environmental approvals to encourage building of tens of thousands of new homes, in a bid to ease the housing crisis.
Labor will freeze part of the National Construction Code for at least four years and fast-track environmental approvals to encourage the building of tens of thousands of new homes, in a bid to ease the housing crisis.
The Albanese government will also work with the corporate watchdog to allow super funds to invest more in housing, saying changes could result in the construction of 35,000 new properties.
The housing push is the first major policy result of Treasurer Jim Chalmers’s economic reform roundtable, which has drawn scepticism for its lack of concrete recommendations and its ability to address the nation’s productivity woes.
In a significant about-face from the last election, Housing Minister Clare O’Neil says changes to the NCC – the rules for home builders – will be paused till mid-2029.
The NCC has been regularly updated to make homes both safer and greener.
Changes will still be made to the code to make them safer, but no environmental rules will be modified for the next four years.
Labor had ridiculed a similar proposal from then-Liberal leader Peter Dutton at the last election to freeze the code for a decade to spark a flurry of new residential constructions.
But Treasury advice leaked days before the economic reform roundtable, which ended on Thursday, flagged a pause was on the cards, with government economists encouraging the Treasurer to freeze the code.
Ms O’Neil also revealed that she would probe changes that would allow artificial intelligence to make the code more user-friendly for tradies and look to remove barriers to new methods of building such as prefabrication.
“It’s too hard to build a home in this country. We want builders on site, not filling in forms to get their approval,” she said on Saturday.
“In the middle of a housing crisis a generation in the making, we want builders building good-quality homes of the future – not figuring out how to incorporate another set of rules.
“We’re pausing changes to the Construction Code and speeding up housing approvals – without cutting corners on standards.”
Environment Minister Murray Watt will separately set up a “strike team” to quicken green approval reviews for up to 26,000 homes.
“Fast-tracked projects will continue to be required to meet all environmental requirements, but … (this) will incentivise developers to provide required information upfront,” he said.
“This approach will ensure strong national environmental protections, while also leading to faster decision making, more certainty for industry and more homes for Australians,” Senator Watt said.
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