ISCOVER
Following last week’s Economic Reform Roundtable, the federal government has announced a range of reforms aimed at addressing the housing crisis.
The Albanese government has announced a package of housing reforms to speed up housing approvals, reduce construction regulations, and capitalise on AI to aid with compliance and efficiency.
On Sunday (24 August), Minister for Housing, Homelessness and Cities, Claire O’Neil, and Minister for the Environment and Water, Murray Watt, revealed changes to “cut through the red tape and delays in approvals that are holding up the construction of more homes”.
Several supply-side reforms were announced, including a four-year pause on changes to the National Construction Code (NCC) for residential buildings.
Following finalisation of NCC 2025, the government will work with states and territories to pause further residential changes until the end of the National Housing Accord period in mid-2029.
The freeze on changes, which excludes essential changes linked to safety and quality, was heavily hinted at during last week’s reform roundtable and listed as one of 10 key government priorities.
While the pause is underway, the government plans to streamline the NCC through consultation, including how to use AI to improve the usability of the 2,000-page code to assist tradies, small businesses and households.
The government will also work to remove barriers to the uptake of cheaper housing construction methods, including for prefabricated and modular homes, and improve how code provisions are developed by the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) and consider the appropriate cadence of future NCC updates.
Minister O’Neil said: “It’s too hard to build a home in this country. We want builders on site, not filling in forms to get their approval.
“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."
Fast-tracking assessments
The government has also said it will fast-track the assessment of more than 26,000 homes awaiting approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
It will support this by creating a specialist team within the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water to review the backlog.
It will also trial the use of AI in a bid to simplify assessments and approvals and create new ministerial guidelines to “prioritise robust development applications that provide required information upfront”.
Superannuation investment in new housing
The Albanese government also plans to take further action on reform ideas raised during the economic reform roundtable meetings, including cutting barriers to more superannuation investment in new housing supply.
That includes supporting ASIC to review the RG97 regulatory guide, which the government claimed could create 35,000 homes and raise more than $8 billion of investment in housing.
Other plans include working with states and territories to accelerate the delivery of planning, zoning, approvals, and investment to enable infrastructure.
Minister Watt said: “Through this combination of new measures, the Albanese Government will deliver faster decisions that will unlock new homes more quickly where it’s appropriate to do so.
“Fast-tracked projects will continue to be required to meet all environmental requirements, but they will incentivise developers to provide the required information upfront.
“This approach will ensure strong national environmental protections, while also leading to faster decision making, more certainty for industry and more homes for Australians."
Property industry backs supply-side reforms
Members of the property industry have welcomed the housing reforms
Property Council chief executive Mike Zorbas said: “At the end of the day, supply, supply and supply are the keys to our terrific and ambitious 1.2 million new homes target.
“That's why the measures announced … improvements to the NCC and streamlined processes to clear assessment backlogs, plus delivering up to 35,000 additional new homes through a review of investment settings - are most welcome, alongside this measure to get more first home buyers onto the ownership ladder,” he said.
The Housing Industry Association (HIA) also praised the reforms. HIA’s managing director Jocelyn Martin said: “The burden of regulation related to building, planning and approvals is adding cost and delays, which is impacting our ability to supply the homes we need.
“A pause to non-essential changes to the national construction code, consideration of how code provisions are developed by the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) and removing barriers to modern methods of construction are all very important actions that will relieve the regulatory burden on industry and pave the way for homes to be built more quickly,” she added.
As well as building reforms, the Albanese government this week revealed it was bringing forward the start date for the First Home Guarantee Scheme to 1 October, three months earlier than originally planned, and changing the scheme’s property price caps.
[Related: Government brings forward Home Guarantee expansion start date]
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