Andrew Bragg has promised to slash the National Construction Code from over 2,000 pages to 80 if elected, a move that would strip accessibility and energy efficiency requirements down to what he calls "optional extras" while leaving only basic safety standards in place. Speaking at the National Press Club on Wednesday, the Liberal housing spokesman said the current rules force Australians into "gold-plated houses" and declared, "It is now illegal to build a cheap house in Australia." That’s the pitch from the top: make the rules thinner, call it freedom, and hope the rest of the system sorts itself out.
Who Pays for the Rules
Bragg said, "We will pare this back." He told the audience houses built under the shorter code "won't be gold plated but it won't fall apart. It will be safe." The proposed code would come with a federal "pattern book" of approved templates, a neat little package of standardization from above. The language is all about affordability, but the target is clear: the existing requirements for accessibility and energy efficiency would be pushed aside as extras people can supposedly choose if they can afford them.
The National Construction Code, established under a different name in 1988, was initially in the order of eighty pages but has expanded under successive governments. Much of it deals with inconsistencies across states and territories, and the federal government does not have the power to change those parts on its own. The code is developed nationally by the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB), but state and territory laws do the actual enforcing, which means any changes would need cooperation across jurisdictions. That’s the machinery: one body writes, others implement, and ordinary people live with the cost.
A new report from the Productivity Commission calls on governments to embrace a "build mindset" to make housing more affordable. Building groups and the Productivity Commission have estimated that regulations add thousands to the cost of each newly built home. Evidence heard by a Senate inquiry into productivity, which Bragg chaired, found the last seven years of code changes have added $3,600 to $33,000 to the cost of a new house. Those figures sit at the center of the argument, and they show who gets squeezed when policy is written in committee rooms and press clubs.
What the System Calls Efficiency
A recent Productivity Commission inquiry into the construction sector found that zoning and the regulatory approvals process was more burdensome than building regulations, but its terms of reference did not include direct consideration of the construction code. Bragg’s proposal would keep much of the existing guidance as "optional," and the shorter length is informed by New Zealand’s approach. Even so, the article itself notes the risks of such a dramatic reduction. Bragg has said that "essential structural, fire safety, and health-related" standards would remain, but the fire-related sections alone in the existing code run to more than 80 pages.
ABCB chief executive Adrian Piani told Bragg’s inquiry that the section relating to "your standard house" was just 332 pages. Piani said the code expanded for two main reasons. One was guidance. "It became much more of a document that was trying to give people the answer as well as the performance requirement," he said. "[The earlier version says] if it's got stairs, those stairs must help people leave the building … [The later version] has all the pictures, all the diagrams about how you design a stair and what a stair looks like."
The other reason was expanded scope. Recent changes include a mandated seven-star energy efficiency rating and mandatory accessibility standards. Bragg listed "mandatory ramps" and "flattened shower flooring" as examples. Those are the parts of the code he wants turned into optional extras, which tells you exactly which people will be expected to absorb the cost when the market gets to decide what counts as acceptable housing.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers told ABC Radio National the government had already been working to streamline the code. "[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," Mr Chalmers said. He said Housing Minister Clare O'Neil had met with the industry on about 30 occasions over the past year to develop a streamlined code, and that a final plan was due to be presented to building ministers later this year.
The State, the Industry, and the Border
Treasury's Inspector-General of Housing, Ben Rimmer, told Senate estimates earlier this year that the complexity of the construction code was "a significant impost on the economy" and a "significant driver of cost," but said much of that came from states and territories. "We don't have a National Construction Code … we actually have eight different construction regulatory systems depending on which state and territory you happen to be in on that day of the week," he said. "If you're a plumber living in Wodonga and you cross the border, you have a different set of regulations … We're working to improve it and to make sure that we get a better system as soon as we can within those constraints."
In the same estimates hearing, Labor minister Tim Ayres criticised Bragg's longstanding aspiration to slash the code, pointing to recent changes that improved waterproofing for balconies. "I just don't think you can argue — well, you can if you want — [against] stopping people having to spend $2 billion in rectification costs because apartment balconies are leaking," he said. "I just think that's a sensible proposition … leaking balconies are a bad idea."
Bragg will also argue the Albanese government has allowed net overseas migration to outpace housing construction, creating a shortfall of 130,000 homes. The Coalition intends to link migration to housing completions. "This … can be achieved while benefiting the budget and the economy, including by lifting the skilled share of our permanent migration … and modest reductions in international students, working holiday makers and post-study work visas."
Labor is preparing its own plan to keep net migration closer to Treasury projections, as reported by the ABC last week. The details have been the subject of extensive cabinet debate, and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said on Monday there was "work to do". A National Press Club address by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, cancelled at short notice last week, has not yet been scheduled but is expected as soon as next week. Labor's proposal is expected to include restrictions on working holiday makers and those who fail in their applications for humanitarian visas, including many graduated students. Plans for skilled migrants and their families are unclear. The parties may fight over the numbers, but the machinery stays the same: migration managed from above, housing rationed through policy, and ordinary people left to absorb the consequences.