Frustrated Industry Cautiously Lends Support to National Construction Code Fixes

“An incredibly complicated, very unwieldy document.” Federal housing minister Clare O’Neil shared her view of the National Construction Code as she outlined five reform priorities to reduce compliance costs and restore consistency across the national building market. The National Construction Code Modernisation Project—Interim Report , released on April 30, was a focus of O’Neil’s address to the Property Council of Australia’s National Housing Solution Summit in Melbourne that same day. Its five priorities include simplifying code access, recommitting to a national market, tightening cost-benefit analysis, enabling faster product iteration, and reducing compliance burdens based on building risk. O’Neil told the summit that each project currently carried tens of thousands of dollars in compliance costs, a problem compounded by about 600 pages of state and territory variations governing rules for sockets, pipes and ramps, all depending on the postcode. She said some manufacturers, particularly in the prefab and modular space, had waited up to 10 years to have new products and construction methods embedded in the code. The underlying cause, she said, was states and territories losing confidence in the national decision-making process and increasingly applying their own variations, which “compounds complexity across the market”. Property Council chief executive Mike Zorbas said the report reflected long-standing industry concerns about the cumulative compliance burden and the absence of adequate resourcing and state and territory buy-in. “Red tape and overlaps between governments shrink new housing supply and make new homes more costly,” Zorbas said. “A seamless, rigorous national market that delivers sustainable, affordable projects is the holy grail.” O’Neil said reform proposals would be brought to state and territory building ministers in the second half of 2026, but acknowledged the states had opted out of national consistency because they did not trust how code decisions were being made. Structural reform of the decision-making process, she said, had to precede any expectation of state buy-in. She also walked back from a position of complete uniformity, noting that regional conditions from Far North Queensland to southern Tasmania created legitimate grounds for variation. The goal, she said, was to minimise these variations rather than eliminate them. ▲ O'Neil: The NCC is “an incredibly complicated, very unwieldy document”, with “tens of thousands of dollars of compliance cost for each project”. O’Neil said the reform is partly a response to a damaging disconnect between industry sentiment and government intent. “Builders will literally say to me: ‘We feel like the government never wants us to build another house again.’ And let me tell you, the complete opposite is the truth.” The interim report also flags work to remove barriers to innovation, including action through the National Productivity Fund to reduce red tape for prefabricated and modular construction. According to the Property Council, Australia needs 1.2 million new homes by June 30, 2029 and a simplified, nationally consistent code is central to meeting that target. Zorbas said the reform directions provided a constructive foundation for the final report, which is due to be delivered to building ministers later this year. “A thoughtful, evidence-based approach to simplifying compliance is the right way, the only way to lift productivity and get more homes built sooner,” he said. The Royal Australian Institute of Architects also weighed in, with national president Adam Haddow warning that housing delivery should not come at the expense of performance standards. NCC 2025 includes changes to waterproofing, condensation management and energy performance. Adoption was open to jurisdictions from May 1 this year but NSW and Queensland have delayed commencement to May 1, 2027. “Australia is rightly focused on increasing housing supply, but supply alone is not enough,” Haddow said. “The homes we build today will shape affordability, health and resilience for decades.” Poorly performing homes, he said, cost more to heat and cool, are harder to adapt over time and are less resilient in a changing climate. ▲ Haddow said focusing on speed without performance risked locking in higher long-term costs for households and poorer outcomes for communities. “The NCC sets the minimum standard for the homes Australians rely on every day. Getting those minimums right is essential if we want homes that are safe, comfortable and affordable to live in over time,” Haddow said. Inconsistent adoption across jurisdictions was a particular concern for the Institute. “A fragmented approach risks creating confusion, increasing costs and slowing delivery at exactly the time we need to be building more homes, and building them well,” he said. “We can build more homes, and we can build them better. This is a moment to ensure Australia’s housing response delivers long-term value, not short-term fixes.” The National Housing Supply and Affordability Council’s State of the Housing System 2026 report was also released on April 30. It estimates around 980,000 new homes were expected by June 30, 2029 before the Middle East conflict escalated—an increase of 42,000 on the previous year’s forecast. Modelling in the report shows a prolonged scenario, assuming a 10 per cent peak in construction cost increases, could reduce completions by 33,000 by the end of the Accord period. NHSAC chair Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz said there was no single fix. “We will all need to stay the course and not be distracted by quick-fix, demand-side policies,” she said.

Construction
Leon Della Bosca
Thu 30 Apr 26

Frustrated Industry Cautiously Lends Support to National Construction Code Fixes

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