Joint media release: Action on red tape and approvals to build more homes, more quickly

The Hon Claire O'Neill MP, Minister for Housing, Homelessness and Cities
Senator The Hon Murray Watt, Minister for the Environment and Water

The Albanese Labor Government is taking decisive action to cut through the red tape and delays in approvals that are holding up the construction of more homes.

This is all about speeding up approvals to build more homes more quickly. 

Housing was a big focus of the Economic Reform Roundtable, where there was broad consensus that commonsense changes could reduce the regulatory burden for builders and boost housing supply.

For too many builders in Australia, it takes longer to get approval for a home than it does to build one.

This is holding back housing supply and making it harder for ordinary Australians to get into a home of their own.

Building on the Albanese Labor Government's ambitious $43 billion housing agenda, the government is acting on five further reform areas to build more homes, more quickly.

This includes two areas that can be acted on immediately following the Roundtable.

1. Pause and streamline the National Construction Code.

The government will work with states and territories to pause further residential changes to the National Construction Code until the end of the National Housing Accord period (mid-2029), following finalisation of NCC 2025.

– This excludes essential safety and quality changes, and it maintains the strong residential standards adopted in 2022, including 7-star energy efficiency.

– The next round of NCC changes will come at the end of the National Housing Accord period (mid-2029).

While this pause is underway, the government will streamline the National Construction Code through further consultation with stakeholders, including examining how to:

– Streamline and use AI to improve useability of the 3-volume 2000-page NCC to assist tradies, small businesses and households.

– Remove barriers to the uptake of modern methods of construction, including prefab and modular housing that have cost savings built in with energy efficiency.

– Improve how code provisions are developed by the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) and consider the appropriate cadence of future NCC updates.

2. Fast track assessment on more than 26,000 homes currently under EPBC Act consideration and speed up assessment of new applications. The government will do this by:

– Establishing a new strike team within the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water to accelerate assessment of the more than 26,000 homes currently with the department for assessment.

– Ensuring better access to the existing rapid EPBC assessment pathway for new applications with new Ministerial guidelines to prioritise robust development applications that provide required information upfront.

– Piloting AI to simplify and speed-up assessments and approvals.

The Albanese Labor Government will also take further action on reform ideas raised during the Economic Reform Roundtable, including to:

3. Reduce barriers to more superannuation investment in new housing supply. This includes supporting ASIC to review RG97 which industry forecasts show could unlock 35,000 homes and more than $8 billion of investment in housing.

4. Encourage further uptake of modern methods of construction including prefab housing and other innovative building practices.

5. Work with states and territories to accelerate delivery of planning, zoning, approvals and investment in enabling infrastructure.

We’re seeing real progress in home building – with building approvals up nearly 30% on this time last year.

We know there’s more work to do and that’s why we’re grateful for the clear consensus that was built around housing reform at the Roundtable.

These contributions will continue to inform the government’s decisions on economic reform in the lead up to the budget and beyond.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Housing, Homelessness and Cities, Clare O’Neil:

“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."

Quotes attributable to Minister for the Environment and Water, Murray Watt:

“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 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."