At a time of record homelessness and great pain in the building industry with a -23% fall in new home approvals and growing insolvencies, the State Government has announced more cost and red tape to make it worse.
COVID has increased costs and caused building supply chain disruptions, but Public Works Minister de Brenni has added to the pain by his fumbling of the adoption of mandatory new construction standards, disregarding industry and homeowner concerns.
Builders warn that the changes to the construction code will add at least another $30,000 to the cost of building the average house – that is not small bickies.
The principles of the new code are laudable, but the execution is a failure and will cost more than the changes save and hurt more than they will help by reducing supply. Furthermore, no one know exactly when and what specific format these new rules will apply and the full impact of loss of housing yield.
I support improving housing accessibility for the disabled and improving energy efficiency but doing it in a way that saves money rather than reduces housing affordability and supply. This can be achieved by working with the building industry rather than against homeowners and builders.
For example, the Minister has also totally disregarded what is happening in the certification industry, with no approved training course to register new certifiers in Queensland for the last 9 months. Certifiers are critical to housing supply and in the application of any code change or building approval. Radio silence from the State Government on fixing this.
Here’s a policy idea to make homes more affordable and accessible – get a new Public Works and Housing Minister who cuts red tape and make it easier to build new homes rather than harder and dearer.
A media release* from the Minister does not provide any detail into these changes, nor does it provide any legal certainty. The media release is also flippant in its disregard for the costs and concerns for those who want to build their home. The government continues to fail to respond to the housing crisis with any empathy, care or concern for those affected and they are failing to listen.
If you have concerns regarding the changes please contact my office.
*CLICK HERE to read the Minister’s Media Release
