Labor vows to slash red tape to turbocharge housing

[Pelican Press 0]

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Labor vows to slash red tape to turbocharge housing

Breaking ground on delivering 1.2 million homes starts by untangling the maze of bureaucratic approvals, the federal government says.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil has signalled a second-term Labor administration will move quickly to boost construction.

“We’ve just been elected with a really clear mandate to improve our housing system in this country,” she told reporters on Saturday.

“We’ve got big reforms to implement, and not a day to waste in getting on with them.”

The minister vowed to simplify local, state and federal planning regulations by leading a council of planning ministers.

“If we are going to address the housing needs of Australians, it is going to require the three levels of government to work together in new ways,” she said.

She will work with the building sector to implement innovative technologies to move past time consuming and costly methods of construction.

Her comments come after an interview with ABC on Friday where she said “builders face a ridiculous thicket of red tape that is preventing them building the homes we need.”

Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn said the cost of building a home had skyrocketed by 40 per cent over the past five years while construction times had ballooned by 80 per cent over the past decade.

“It is critical that we remove the red tape that is hampering our capacity to build homes,” she said.

Ms Wawn was hopeful the ambitious goal of 1.2 million homes coming onto the market would be achieved, but said the group’s projections showed there could be a slight drop-off.

She argued that along with the focus on reducing red tape, there was an urgent need to apprenticeships and fast-tracking migration for skilled people.

“For the first time, the federal government is leaning in and trying to ensure that there is a focused attention on housing,” she said.

But opposition housing spokesman Andrew Bragg said the government’s plans were a “joke” and described Labor as “red tape champions.”

“Labor’s signature housing policy, the Housing Australia Future Fund has built zero new homes in three years,” Senator Bragg said.

“Approvals are way down under their watch and their 1.2 million new home target is a dead duck.”

The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development warned Australia on Tuesday to boost housing supply and address falling affordability.

The OECD said easing zoning restrictions would strengthen competition and productivity, as well as raise housing investment to “reverse the long-standing decline in housing affordability”.

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