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“Builders need fair notice. New South Wales has already committed to introducing the agreed transition arrangements, but we are concerned that Queensland won’t honour the national position,” said HIA Deputy Executive Director for Queensland Paul Leven.
“The agreed transition allows a period of six months after the ban takes place on 1 July 2024 for pre-existing contracts to be fulfilled, which is a sensible and pragmatic approach.
“There is a significant volume of new homes and apartments currently under construction and scheduled to be built over the next 1-2 years, and engineered stone has been the predominant product specified for use in kitchen and bathrooms,” Mr Leven said.
“Given current lead times in residential building – and especially in more complex buildings, including unit blocks - suppliers will be holding stock for the affected projects.
“However, there has been no announcement about the transition in Queensland, and this leaves open the question of whether there will be one. Importantly, there is also no message from the government to consumers who will need to vary their building contracts, and likely pay more to have a different product installed in their home.
“Builders, kitchen suppliers and stonemasons risk not being able to honour pre-existing contracts with one customer, while another will get the product specified in the contract, though they may only be a few kilometres apart, across the border.
“With a large amount of kitchen, bathroom and stone fabrication taking place across the border, it would be unreasonable for the industry and public in Queensland if we had a different compliance regime from New South Wales for these six months.
“The issue of working with engineered stone is one HIA takes extremely seriously and we support the need to minimise the potential exposure of workers to harmful levels of respirable crystalline silica.
“With Queensland already having extensive RCS controls in place, builders are well-placed to manage an orderly and safe phase out of engineered stone as agreed nationally,” Mr Leven said.
The Housing Industry Association ACT and Southern NSW region has released its full 2024 ACT election priorities to address the issues facing housing and residential construction in the capital.
Trade shortages loom as a major threat to the Housing Accord’s target of building 1.2 million homes over the next five years. The target equates to an average of 240,000 homes per annum and Australia has only come close to this level of home building on two occasions in the past. The first was in a single year at the peak of the apartment boom of the mid-2010s (232,000 in 2016), and the second was for a single year at the peak of the COVID era cycle (228,000 in 2021).
This policy reflects HIA’s commitment to fostering a more diverse and inclusive residential building industry. HIA supports efforts to work with government and industry to encourage cultural change and broaden opportunities for all individuals.
The Housing Industry Association is calling on the next ACT Government to address the housing crisis currently confronting the nation’s capital.