Interview with Amy Duggan, ABC Illawarra

Event: Interview with Amy Duggan, ABC Illawarra
Date: 14 April 2025, 8:35am AEST
Speakers: Denita Wawn, CEO of Master Builders Australia
Topics: federal election; housing crisis; first home buyers

E&OE

Amy Duggan, host ABC Illawarra: Denita Wawn is the CEO of Master Builders Australia, and joins us this morning. Good morning, Denita.

Denita Wawn, CEO Master Builders Australia: Good morning, Amy.

Amy: Master Builders has long been calling for action to address the housing crisis. But just how bad is it right now?

Denita: It’s pretty bad. And certainly, when you look at our research, cost of living is the biggest issue facing voters at the moment, and of that housing is the number one priority. So, we know it’s in the forefront of the community’s mind. The question is, how do we resolve the issue that we simply don’t have enough homes for people around the country? It’s as simple as that, and you know, yesterday, we saw some support, but it’s not as simplistic as that, unfortunately.

Amy: So what do you make of both parties policies? Like how far will they go to address the housing crisis?

Denita: Well, it’s certainly really good news for first home buyers that are finding it really tough to get into the housing market. And from a builder perspective, there was a real focus on new builds, which means increasing supply. But I’ll be a bit you know the nay sayer, to some degree, there’s a big but, and the but is we’re ready and willing to build. But equally, for us to really reach our full potential and meet the housing demands that we actually have, we need support when it comes to more people. We want to employ more people. We want to ensure that we have the right skilled people to actually undertake all this significant infrastructure uplift. Whether it’s our homes or whether it’s the infrastructure that supports our homes, all our schools and, you know, shops and so forth, and our roads. So there is a big ask here from the industry, and we also need that support to ensure that we can deliver.

Amy: There are concerns that housing prices will go up under either policy. Economists are warning the policies encourage people to borrow more money, and then obviously that fuels housing prices. What do you make of that?

Denita: Yes, and then, you know, question the issue around borrowing. There are very strict requirements through APRA to the financial service providers around borrowing limits. But there is always an issue that if you overheat a market with financial support to new entrants in particular, then costs may go up. And we know that costs have already increased by 40 per cent in the construction industry, which is why, in some degree, we’re seeing a decline in investment in the industry because of those cost increases. So, we are saying to both major parties, it is great that you’re supporting first home owners, but to ensure that we don’t see cost escalations, to ensure that we can, in fact, build and correspond to this demand uplift that we know we need, we need support when it comes to more people in the sector. We’re trying very hard to encourage people back into the industry, but it simply won’t be enough. We won’t have enough apprentices coming through the system. So, the issue is, how do we address that?

Amy: So, an apprenticeship still takes four years, right? So you’re looking at, you know, four or five years, even if you had a multitude of people signing up today for an apprenticeship, we’re still talking five years down the line before they’re accredited enough to go out and build on their own. So, if both policies are centred around new homes, the question is, who is going to build them? Like, how bad is the workforce shortage? How many people are we actually talking that you need and need now to keep up with the current demand, let alone this new this new targets?

Denita: We’re estimating that we need about 200,000 extras now to replace those who are retiring, leaving the industry and to actually meet current demand. So, that’s a significant number. We employ, 1.3 million. We know we need at least 1.5 and we need people that are actually good quality, skilled people, to ensure that we maintain good quality buildings. So, it’s a big, big ask, and for us, this is a major infrastructure program, and what we’ve done over the decades in this country is when we need additional people for infrastructure, we utilise the migration system. And so for us, it’s a focus on, how can we bring trade, skilled trade migrants into this country, and how do we also recognise this huge swathe of skilled migrants who are already in the country but are finding it really, really tough to get their skills recognised. That’s the area we need to concentrate on.

Amy: So, you’re calling, to back what you’re calling a trade visa? Can you explain that to us?

Denita: Yeah, certainly. We see our competitors, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand, all have priority trade pathways through their visa systems to enable a priority status for skilled trades, and we’re competing in that international market, so we say that the system at the moment is not recognising the priority status of skilled trades people that that needs to be uplifted, and we’re asking both parties to have a special pathway for trade skills visas and put them as a priority over other skilled people into this country so we can actually get on with building.

Amy: So, that solves one part of the problem, but Labor’s already committed to building 1.2 million homes by 2029 under the National Housing accord. They’re not on track with that. The Property Council predicts will be 462,000 homes behind that target by the deadline. So, under their housing policy, announced yesterday, they’d be pledging to build an extra 100,000 for first home buyers. Do you not think that’s a little ambitious, given how they’re already tracking?

Denita: Well, I’m reading the extra 100,000 yesterday as part of trying to achieve that 1.2. We’ll need to see that clarified from the ALP. But yes, we are falling short. Our figures say it’s not quite as bad as the Property Council, but it’s still well short. This is the issue that we have been saying now for three years. If we are going to solve the housing crisis in this country, and we’re having targets set, we can’t actually do it unless there is support to the industry to deliver, and that is the big issue for us, time and time again. Until we have support to ensure that we’re elevating the status of the industry from an employee perspective, in terms of getting more people into the industry, whether it’s through migration, apprenticeships, university pathways, or getting people back into the industry, which is also the responsibility of the industry itself, then we’re not going to meet these targets, and that is the critical issue. We’ve also got to deal with the building approval delays, occupancy delays, and so forth. There’s a range of issues that we need support on. There has been some work, but not necessarily enough to meet those targets.

Amy: Yeah, and then we have to make sure they’re, you know, qualified and doing the right thing by people whose homes they’re building, to ensure that they’re, you know, safe to inhabit, and all of those things too. What other incentives would you like to see introduced Denita?

Denita: Well, certainly from our perspective, the big issue is around planning delays and approval delays. We know local government is really struggling to get through. They themselves are having labour shortages, so there should also be a focus on supporting them to get qualified people. I’ve always been of the view that we need to look at flying squads of teams helping regional local government, in that regard. We also need to look at complex building regulation, red tape, as you say, we’ve got to ensure the quality and safety of our buildings, but sometimes the amount of paperwork that we’ve got to deal with the legal system is really, really difficult to get to developments up. So there’s a lot of good news stories in that regard but nevertheless, more needs to be done.

Amy: Denita Wawn, the CEO of Master Builders Australia. Thanks for your time on ABC. Illawarra this morning.

Denita: Thank you, Amy.

Media contact:
Dee Zegarac
National Director, Media & Public Affairs
0400 493 071
dee.zegarac@masterbuilders.com.au