Press Conference at Australia’s Parliament House

Event: Press Conference at Australia’s Parliament House
Date: 4 December 2024, 10.30am AEDT
Speakers: Denita Wawn, CEO Master Builders Australia
Topics: Federal Election, housing crisis, cost of living

E&OE

Denita Wawn, CEO Master Builders Australia: Denita Wawn, CEO Master Builders Australia.

We have a housing crisis in this country. We are short a considerable amount of homes. The Federal Government’s Accord numbers of 1.2 million homes by 2029 is what we need for this country to ensure that every person is housed in Australia. To achieve that, though we are falling well short, the Master Builders Australia figures show at the moment that if we continue to build the numbers that we build, we will be over 400,000 homes short by 2029 and that is unacceptable.

We know to build those 1.2 million homes, we need all of the building and construction sector working as much as they possibly can, as efficiently and as effectively as possible. To build our homes, we need our roads, our sewerage, our electricity. We need to ensure that we can get in and out of our new suburbs. We need builders working, but also, we need the social and infrastructure around those homes, whether it’s schools or hospitals, also our transport infrastructure.

We know to build 1.2 million homes; we need to ensure that the construction industry is growing and is strong. We need to ensure that the residential, the commercial and the civil sectors of our industry are all working together to build our new communities and upgrade our existing communities, but at the moment, they are not.

We have a situation where there is strong demand for our sector, but it is not being realised. Why? Because we have an economy that is not strong at the moment. We have policies in place that create a stranglehold on our sector.

So, what needs to be done?

First and foremost, we need a strong economy, we need interest rates down, we need inflation down, because we know that if you have a strong economy, you have a strong building and construction industry and vice versa. We need people to spend money on our industry, but they are not at the moment.

Why? Because we’re faced with 30 to 40% increase in building costs over the last five years.

Why? Because we’re facing a 20% decline in productivity over the last 10 years.

So, something has to give. If this industry is going to build for all Australians, we need a strong industry.

So, the Master Builders Australia has put out today a series of data to show that Australians support us in that call to resolve the housing crisis, and to resolve that housing crisis, we need to ensure that our economy is strong, that there are policies in place to restrict, to stop the restrictions on supply. That includes resolving our workplace shortages, that includes removing industrial relations changes, that includes focusing on changes to planning and zoning and decreasing the cost of building regulation. Enough is enough. We’re asking both political parties to put housing crisis as their number one priority for next year’s election. Thank you.

Journalist: The government’s crying about its legislative wins last week. Will that be enough?

Denita: The changes to the legislation last week to introduce Build to Rent and so forth are just simply at the edges. The biggest factor we need for more homes to be built in Australia is to ensure that the private sector, whether they are mums and dads or whether they are large institutional investors, actually see putting money into building and construction stacks up. And at the moment, it does not. Why? Because we have high and stubborn interest rates, we have high inflation and very high costs of building and construction. To realise that investment, we need all of the changes that master builders Australia is seeking to actually get the private market stimulated again into the building construction industry. It’s important that we look at helping those who need to enter into the market. It’s important to look at Build to Rent in terms of institutional investment, but it is simply not enough. The components of what drives investment are simply not there at the moment, and that needs to change.

Journalist: Government spending’s at record highs, have the government forgotten the private sector?

Denita: The spending has been, justifiably, in social and affordable housing. There simply has not been enough investment in social and affordable housing in this country over decades, and we applaud the Albanese Government in their focus on social and affordable, however, they have lost sight of the need for the private market, and we say that that now needs to be the focus of their intentions. Look at what we need to do to stimulate investment in building and construction.

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