Statement on ‘The Red Tape Impulse’ from Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn

12 June 2026

Productivity Commission Chair Danielle Wood’s recent essay titled ‘The Red Tape Impulse’ has laid bare a regulatory landscape that converts good intentions into a business quagmire.

Ms Wood points to the regulatory burden pushing many “potentially feasible developments into the ‘doesn’t stack up’ column, leading to fewer houses being built”.

As the Head of the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council told the Senate recently, “…gaining approvals is not really the bottleneck now. The bottleneck is achieving a feasible development.”

This is on the back of a report by the Productivity Commission finding that the regulatory costs on housing construction are as high as $47.5 billion per year translating up to $320,000 per average new house. This has serious implications for the affordability of housing and to put this into perspective, a house deposit doesn’t even cover the red tape.

The regulatory creep is well illustrated by the National Construction Code’s ‘glove box compendium’ for house builders, which has grown from 93 pages in 1993 to 889 pages today.

Regulation is needed to make buildings safe and comfortable, unnecessary regulation is the problem. As Ms Wood points out, we all have a story to share. Extension approval dramas, labyrinthine business reporting rules and other busy work are widespread in the industry and don’t produce better buildings.

These inefficiencies are not just frustrating and costly for builders and aspiring homeowners, they have broader economic consequences, putting a drag on GDP, productivity and growth.

The Commission Chair says the Government should double down on its headline target to cut red tape by the equivalent of $10.2 billion a year, with a strong commitment to reducing inappropriate regulation, accompanied by more rigorous processes for introducing new regulations.

Just this week, the Prime Minister said ‘it’s the economy stupid’ and we know that if we want to turbo charge our economy, we have to get construction right. It makes up 11 per cent of GDP and multiplies spending by 2.5 times across the broader economy.

While we do not support the tax increases outlined in the Federal Budget, the productivity measures represent a modest first step toward reform and reducing red tape. However, with indications that our economy is currently constrained to around 2 per cent growth before triggering higher inflation, it is clear that much more substantial reform is needed to protect and improve our standard of living.

Cutting unnecessary regulation and putting downward pressure on the cost per new house is an essential part of the policy mix to get more Australians into the housing market.

We know the answers, what’s needed now is action, encouraging investment, improving efficiency, cutting red tape, growing the workforce and delivering enabling infrastructure, as recommended by past inquiries. Master Builders’ federal budget roadmap can be found here.

Media contact: Dylan Hafey, Media Advisor

0497 330 064 | dylan.hafey@masterbuilders.com.au