Recently, HIA’s National Policy Congress (NPC) held its annual meeting and debated the impact government regulations and continuing change are having on the residential building industry.

The primary purpose of the NPC is to bring together our industry leaders, including HIA’s Board of Directors, Regional Presidents, National Services Committee Chairs and senior staff to discuss the key issues our industry and members face.

The overwhelming feeling is that the policy landscape for our industry has never been more complex or disjointed across governments and that businesses across the country are feeling swamped by the burden of more red tape.

One quote from the meeting was that ‘enough is enough’. The industry cannot continue to absorb such far-reaching changes from NCC 2022 to NCC 2025, engineered stone and gas bans, building certification and net-zero reforms, and an overbearing punitive approach to industry regulation.

More regulation won’t deliver more homes

The main objective of the congress is for the Association to develop advocacy to bring forward to governments on the key issues facing our industry.

The topics debated included the government’s 1.2 million home target and what triggers and reforms are needed to give the industry the best chance to deliver these much-needed homes. We discussed the recently announced federal budget, critical measures for the housing industry, the central themes for the next federal election, which will occur in the next 12 months, and our requests for both parties.

Not surprisingly, the issue of the engineered stone ban was front and centre regarding its implementation, access to alternate products and impact of broader silica reforms.

Equally, the ongoing concerns on the application, impact and complexity of NCC 2022, which will be further compounded by the impending release of the draft changes for NCC 2025, continue to be front of mind for members and their clients.

In a broader context, other issues discussed included the government’s industrial relations changes, its impact on businesses and the need for comprehensive whole-of-government reforms to deliver on housing targets.

Access to skilled labour – bringing in more qualified professionals and retaining apprentices were acknowledged as a universal problem, as were local and state territory planning regimes in the timely delivery of more homes with limited skilled resources. 

We considered the role of banks and governments regarding cash flow and access to finance for businesses and contractual issues associated with fixed-price contracts. HIA has committed to undertaking further work on this issue and measures that we impress on banks, APRA and governments to ease the pressures on building companies.

The broad discussion on net-zero and government sustainability reform agendas was discussed at length, recognising the issue is multi-faceted.

This included what a future net-zero home will likely mean, discussions on skills and workforce demand, the impact on the existing workforce and competition for workers in the renewable energy sector, and potential business ESG reporting.

The NPC supported several new HIA advocacy strategies to guide our response to these emerging issues.

Fighting hard for industry

HIA is acutely aware of the issues raised by members through the National Policy Congress and broader member forums.

We have been hearing consistent feedback over the past 12-24 months, and we have been advocating strongly to governments, highlighting the impact of changes such as NCC 2022, work health and safety reforms, engineered stone and gas bans, IR reforms, taxation and monetary policy changes is having on business.

We have and will continually call out the seemingly contradictory nature of government discussions on the need to deliver 1.2 million homes and addressing housing unaffordability concerns, while at the same time seeking to further increase regulations and regulatory complexity in our industry.

The NPC supported strengthening our advocacy on reducing red tape and making this one of our central platforms leading into the next federal election. This will also include reviewing our current Regulatory Reform and Red Tape Reduction national position statement.

Sick of being treated as a punching bag 

HIA will continue to raise the profile of these issues and address the negative media and government sentiment towards our industry. This disadvantages individuals in our industry and erodes homeowner/consumer confidence.

We will highlight that if the government is serious about building 1.2 million homes over the next five years, it needs to maintain our current workforce and attract more skilled workers and new entrants into our industry.

To do so, they need to paint a picture of a positive, flourishing industry rather than continuing to treat our industry as a punching bag.

Further, they need to recognise the impact that the continual introduction of new reforms, increased complexity and additional costs to the construction of homes are having on our industry – and that if this continues, the 1.2 million homes are nothing but a pipe dream.

Major decisions

In 2024, NPC re-endorsed 15 national position statements and two new HIA strategies. Position statements re-endorsed:

• enforcement of industrial relations laws in the residential building industry
• regulation and governance of registered industrial organisations
• corporate phoenixing
• home warranty insurance
• dispute resolution
• Australian Building Codes Board and National Construction Code
• Australian Standards
• accessibility in residential buildings
• energy efficiency for residential buildings
• diversity, equity and inclusion
• principles of a good planning system
• government infrastructure investment
• environmental constraints and planning regulation creep
• resource management in residential construction
• truth in zoning.

New HIA strategies to guide our advocacy:

• Industry Workforce Development
• responding to the government’s net-zero reform activities.

HIA national committees

The Chairs of HIA’s national committees include:

• National Technical Committee - Rob Di Mella (SA)
• National Training & Professional Development Committee - Phil Theunissen (WA)
• National Industrial Relations & Legal Committee - Paul Burnell (TAS)
• National Planning & Environment Committee - Dean O’Rourke (WA)
• National Membership Services Committee - Brent Fletcher (QLD)
• National Kitchen & Bathroom Committee - Laurie Cosentino (NSW)
• National Manufacturers Council - Glenn Simpkin (NSW).

First Published on 25 June 2024.