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Event: Interview with James Willis, 2GB Money News
Date: 10 March 2026, 8.30pm AEDT
Speakers: Denita Wawn, CEO Master Builders Australia
Topics: National Construction Code
E&OE
James Willis, host 2GB Money News: We’ve been talking a lot about housing, and of course, the Albanese Government has this target of 1.2 million new homes by the end of the decade. We’ve highlighted in the last few months a range of issues that the industry is facing. One of the biggest headaches appears to be the National Construction Code. Now this started out as a simple rule book for builders in the early 90s of about 100 pages. Today, it’s 1000s of pages, and builders say the complexity is killing productivity, driving up costs, and the Productivity Commission estimates that the total cost of all the regulatory burdens on housing across the economy is often working out to be about $320,000 per house. It adds a lot on to the build and part of the issue is this National Construction Code, which has gone from less than 100 pages to 1000s of pages that a builder needs to know back to front. Denita Wawn is the CEO of Master Builders Australia. She’s on the line for us tonight. Denita, thanks for your time.
Denita Wawn, CEO Master Builders Australia: Thank you.
Host: This has become a monster, this Code, it’s a hindrance, rather than a help to the construction industry and the people that are trying to build us out of this crisis.
Denita: It is a highly complex, lengthy set of documents, and as a lawyer, I even find trouble in understanding it. It is totally inconsistent, drafted poorly, the list goes on. So, we need a significant streamlining and modernisation of this document without changing though, the importance of the safety and wellbeing of people that live and work in our built environment.
Host: Yeah, and that’s a very good point, because, as you know, there are bad eggs in any industry, and there are sadly bad eggs in the construction industry. So, we wouldn’t want to scale something back so far and allow, you know, the quality of homes to diminish and have unsafe projects, or apartment buildings cracking and all those sort of things. But I’m keen to understand from you, is it that the main issue is the size and length of the manual, and are there sections of the Code that make building a house very expensive or complex? What are your key specific issues with the manual?
Denita: There’s probably three issues. First and foremost, the manual has been drafted poorly and complex in a complex way that does not make intuitive sense.
Host: By bureaucrats?
Denita: Yeah, absolutely, it’s written by bureaucrats, for bureaucrats, not for people on the ground and a classic example is that in the 1990s, the code was structured so that resi builders, mum and dad resi builders, can have a simple, easy ‘Glove box Compendium’ that was about 90 pages long. That volume now is nearly 900 pages long and we wonder why Utes are getting so much bigger and so that is just ridiculous for people to have to go through 900 pages to understand how to build a detached house, and so we say we’ve got to get rid of all of that complexity. Another big issue for us is the issue around additions that were made in 2022 that have added anywhere between $30,000 to $50,000 per home, and this relates to much higher standards in energy efficiency and also leading all ability provisions. They are all well intentioned provisions but were introduced at a time where the industry and more importantly, consumers could least afford it, and so that needs to be reviewed. And finally, we have not only these laws in the Code, but then they are then referring to standards. Bizarrely enough, you’ve got to pay to access those standards. You would think that law, to follow law, it would be free, but no, we’ve got to pay for those regulated standards, and we say they should be free, and they also should be intertwined with the Code so you know what you’re building, and you’re ensuring that you’re building to a compliant standard. So, three big issues that we need to tackle.
Host: That was very, very well explained and the voice that you’re hearing is Denita Wawn, who is the CEO of Master Builders Australia. So, just so I understand, if I’m a builder, I’m expected to know this manual back to front, and if I don’t follow something in the manual, what, the house may not pass inspection, or the Building Commission can come by, no matter what state you’re in, and say, “hey, this isn’t compliant”.
Denita: It is. You have to comply with this document. Now, of course, as builders and as subcontractors, everyone should be building homes and our schools and our roads and whatever the case may be, we’ve got to have a compliant built environment, but when the law is so complex that it does not make any sense. When the law is so complex that it adds an additional, you know, what did you say, $3000 odd dollars to the cost of a home unnecessarily. When you need multiple law degrees and engineering degrees to actually understand it, then we have gone into a ridiculous state of play. So, for us, you’ve got to go back to basics. You’ve got to make this easy to read, easy to understand, and it also needs to be presented in a way that makes intuitive sense. We now have amazing AI at our disposal. Wouldn’t it be great if we could get on tablet form with simple, easy diagrams with explanations of the laws that our builders and the tradies have to follow, and that is our ask to the Federal government, along with the state and territory governments as well.
Host: Yeah, and the key point is that all of this regulation, and I think as part of this, it’s the new or the relatively new seven-star requirement for homes as well. It’s all adding to the cost of the final build, and that is passed on to the consumer and quite significantly, the figure I cited before was that the Productivity Commission reckons it’s $320,000 on average per new house. Now, if you got rid of some of that, we’re talking about housing affordability, you’d probably cut some of the cream off the top of a new property.
Denita: It’s right. We have seen construction costs go up by nearly 50 per cent over the last five years. Can I say that again? 50 per cent over the last five years of construction costs. Some of that is because of additional regulatory burden, such as those energy efficiency standards. Now, of course, it is important that our homes are as energy efficient as possible, but not to the detriment of affordability of our housing stock in this country. That though, they did not take that into account, despite our best efforts, when they made that decision as governments in 2022. We say, let’s pull back from that. Let’s make it easier to build. Yes, if you want a more energy efficient home, then let the consumer make that decision, not be forced upon them.
Host: Just lastly, you’d be watching the global situation at the moment, a lot of your workers, a lot need diesel fuel for their day-to-day jobs. Are you hearing stories already about shortages and high prices in the construction industry?
Denita: There’s certainly concern about the cost of fuel at the moment, not so much about the supply but in talking to builders this morning, where they’re concerned about is the supply of building materials and tiles, for example, seems to be a particular concern, given we are highly reliant on other countries for the supply of tiling in this country. That’s right, we have a huge reliance on many building materials from overseas, and where we saw cost escalations in Covid on particular building materials and tiles and also kitchen beach tops and so forth are a really good example of high reliance on those types of building products, as long as well as glass and framing. So, we’re concerned about the shipping impacts and talking to builders only this morning, we have heard significant concerns from large volume builders around access to tiles for homes and whether or not that will delay things. So, we’re keeping a close eye on supply chains as this war progresses.
Host: Denita, we really appreciate your time. Thank you.
Denita: Pleasure.
Host: That’s Denita Wawn, the CEO of Master Builders Australia.
Media contact: Dylan Hafey, Media Advisor
0497 330 064 | dylan.hafey@masterbuilders.com.au