The Coalition has proposed a major rewrite of Australia’s building rules while also criticising the federal government’s 5 per cent Deposit Scheme.
Shadow housing minister Andrew Bragg has proposed a major rewrite of Australia’s building rules, saying that a shorter National Construction Code (NCC) could significantly reduce new-home costs.
Speaking at the National Press Club on Wednesday (12 August), the Liberal senator said that if the Coalition secured government, it would reduce the more than 2,000-page code to 80 pages and retain only core health, structural, and fire-safety requirements as mandatory.
Bragg said that the proposed “Basic Australian Standard” would remove a range of provisions the Coalition considered to be driving unnecessary construction costs.
“We have recommended a ‘Basic Australian Standard’ focusing on the core elements with safety as the basis. Everything else is optional,” Bragg said.
“It establishes essential structural, fire safety, and health-related building standards, in a cost-effective way. Anything else like mandatory ramps, flattened shower flooring or reinforced walls would be optional extras.”
Code costs under scrutiny
The NCC, first established under a different name in 1988, has expanded significantly through successive governments.
Bragg said that the current framework had placed home construction beyond the reach of lower-cost development models.
“It is now illegal to build a cheap house in Australia,” the senator said and added that the Coalition would “pare this back to cut building costs”.
During his speech, the senator referenced evidence heard during a recent Senate inquiry into productivity that changes to the code over the past seven years had added between $3,600 and $33,000 to the cost of building a new house.
Bragg also tied code reform to a broader supply agenda, calling for greater adoption of faster and more standardised construction approaches.
“We also recommended wider use of Modern Methods of Construction and a new federal pattern book to drive faster building outcomes,” he said.
However, responding to Bragg’s proposal, the federal government said that it had already begun addressing the complexity of the code.
Speaking to ABC Radio on Wednesday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers stressed that the government had announced a freeze on additions to the code last year and was working with states and the building industry on simplifying the framework.
“Andrew Bragg is a bit late to the party on this, we have been very clear that the code is too hard to navigate and it’s too costly, and we’re making it easier and faster to build by pausing the code and working with the states and the industry to streamline it,” Chalmers said.
Chalmers said that Housing Minister Clare O’Neil had met industry representatives on about 30 occasions over the past year and added that a final plan was expected to go to building ministers later this year.
HIA urges a balanced reset
The Housing Industry Association (HIA) welcomed Bragg’s announcement, but said simplification should not come at the expense of protections that underpin the quality and safety of Australian homes.
“Senator Bragg’s proposal to dramatically simplify the National Construction Code for housing is a timely contribution to a debate Australia needs to have. The HIA has been saying for some time that the NCC needs a knock-down rebuild, not another renovation,” HIA CEO – industry and policy Simon Croft said.
Croft also drew a distinction between cutting duplication and removing essential standards.
“But this should not be confused with a call to simply tear up the existing requirements that underpin the safety, structural integrity and performance of Australian homes,” he said.
“The much bigger and more immediate concern is the seemingly endless escalation of new requirements being added to the NCC and the growing tendency to use the building code to pursue broader policy objectives.”
Croft added that the eventual page count mattered less than whether the code preserved core expectations without layering on avoidable costs.
“Whether the final residential code is 80 pages, 100 pages or another number is ultimately less important than the principle behind the proposal. Australia needs a building code that protects the standards Australians rightly expect from their homes without continually adding new layers of regulation, cost and complexity,” he said.
Bragg also used his speech to criticise the federal government’s now uncapped and non-means-tested design.
“Labor has three housing gimmicks: an incompetent, probably corrupt housing fund, uncapped; non-means tested 5 per cent deposits; and higher housing taxes tailored for focus groups rather than real life,” he said.
[Related: RBA flags ‘sharp’ fall in new housing commitments]
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