Building Ministers from all jurisdictions came together for the latest Building Ministers Meeting in Sydney today.
Building Ministers agreed to work together to cut red tape and enable further expansion and growth in Australia's prefabricated and modular construction industry.
Ministers acknowledged the important role that innovative and advanced construction technologies could play in growing the supply of housing and how regulatory uncertainty may be hindering further growth of the industry.
The Australian Building Codes Board will now work closely with industry bodies and jurisdictions to reduce barriers to adopting prefabricated and modular construction.
Ministers also agreed to release a draft version of the next edition of the National Construction Code (NCC) on 1 May 2024 for public comment and feedback. Public consultation on these proposed reforms will be open until 1 July 2024.
Ministers also discussed how governments could work together to decarbonise the building sector, to achieve emissions reductions and contribute to net zero targets.
The next Building Ministers Meeting will be held in June and an Industry Dialogue will be held in May.
Chaired by the Federal Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic, Building Ministers Meetings bring state and territory Ministers together to ensure Australia's buildings continue to meet society's changing needs and address opportunities and challenges facing the building and construction sector.
The Building Ministers Meeting Communique is available at the Building Ministers' Meeting webpage.
Quotes attributable to the Hon. Ed Husic, Minister for Industry and Science:
"We need to build more quality homes quickly - prefab and modular housing gives us a chance to do that.
"With State and territory colleagues we agreed we need to identify red tape that might be holding back the rollout of these types of homes.
"The Australian Building Codes Board will prepare advice for Ministers on how to cut red tape in this area. We expect to receive that advice in June.
"We need to pull every lever to help use advanced manufacturing to support the rollout of these homes."
