Interview with Sally Sara, ABC National Radio

Event: Interview with Sally Sara, ABC National Radio

Date: 30 January 2026, 6.35am AEDT
Speakers: Denita Wawn, CEO Master Builders Australia
Topics: Extreme heat’s impact on worksites, Work Health and Safety and the labour shortage.

E&OE

Sally Sara, ABC National Radio host: Denita Wawn is the CEO of Master Builders Australia and joins me now. Denita, welcome to breakfast.

Denita Wawn, CEO Master Builders Australia: Good morning.

Host: How significant have tools down orders been across the industry, particularly over the last week or so with extreme temperatures in some parts of the country.

Denita: Yes, certainly, safety of workers is paramount, and so whenever we have extreme weather events, we must ensure workers’ safety, and that means that if tools down are required, and in some industrial instruments, that is the case, then we’ve got to make sure that we’re looking after our workers. So, responsibilities, both under work health and safety laws as well as our industrial awards and delays are inevitable, unfortunately in our industry, but workers safety must come first.

Host: What’s the temperature threshold for stopping work during hot weather?

Denita: Some of our agreements and awards talk about 35-degrees, but ultimately, it’s a decision by the responsible work health and safety person on site to determine what is in the workers best interest and so usually it’s a 35-degree heat threshold that work is required to stop work. But regardless of that temperature requirement, there is that overall arching requirement that safety is paramount, and that we need to take that into account before we have people working in all sorts of weather. And it’s not just that extreme heat, but of course wind, when you’re dealing with those high-rise construction sites and, of course cold as well. And unfortunately, those delays mean that we have cost implications, and that are some of the things that we need to ensure that we’re taking that into account under our contractual obligations in terms of completion times.

Host: Has there been much discussion in the industry, more broadly, about what the longer term might look like if temperatures keep increasing?

Denita: Certainly, the issue of climate change is something that we talk about. It’s not just about energy efficiency in our buildings but it’s also about how we work and how we ensure that safety is paramount. And what that means then in terms of contracts, we know that clients, whether they are governments, big business or mums and dads with building their home, they want the building completed as quickly as possible. In many instances, our builders are working under fixed price contracts with clear completion dates, with high liquidated damages if you don’t complete under certain circumstances. So, this is really important when we look at contracts in the future about what extensions of time are allowed under a contract, if we’re dealing with far more variable temperatures and needing to take safety into consideration.

Host: What do you think it means for the national construction pipeline and completions?

Denita: Well, the industry is already under extreme pressure when it comes to completion deadlines. We’ve got a significant worker shortage in this country when it comes to building and construction. BuildSkills Australia says that we need more than 120,000 extra workers alone just to build the housing needs of the country, let alone all of our infrastructure, the Olympic requirements in Brisbane and so forth. So, for us, we need to ensure that we have an industry with best practice, and that we are encouraging more people into the industry, but that means that we’ve got to ensure that we have the right contracts in place to ensure that we are not under stress when it comes to managing these extreme circumstances.

Host: Denita, thank you very much for joining me.

Denita: Pleasure, thank you.

Media contact: Dylan Hafey, Media Advisor

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