Senator Andrew Bragg wants to redesign Australia's building code. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)<\/p>\n
Opposition housing spokesperson Andrew Bragg has promised to slash the National Construction Code from over 2,000 pages to 80 if elected.<\/p>\n
Building groups and the Productivity Commission have estimated that regulations add thousands to the cost of each newly built home.<\/p>\n
Much of the construction code deals with inconsistencies across states and territories, which the federal government does not have the power to change.<\/p>\n
The federal opposition wants to demolish Australia's building code, squeezing more than 2,000 pages into just 80.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the National Press Club on Wednesday, Liberal housing spokesman Andrew Bragg will say the current rules require "gold-plated houses", which are too expensive.<\/p>\n
In a radical overhaul which would require the co-operation of states and territories to deliver, he would turn everything apart from basic safety standards into an "optional extra", including accessibility and energy efficiency requirements.<\/p>\n
"It is now illegal to build a cheap house in Australia," the senator will say, according to excerpts from his remarks shared with the ABC.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The National Construction Code, established under a different name in 1988, was initially in the order of eighty pages but has expanded under successive governments.<\/p>\n
A new report from the Productivity Commission calls on governments to embrace a "build mindset" to make housing more affordable.<\/p>\n
While some of this is due to expanding scope, the document has also evolved to give builders more detailed guidance on how they can ensure their buildings are compliant.<\/p>\n
Another major cause of bloat is the section devoted to explaining variations across each state and territory.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That alone spans more than 700 pages across multiple volumes, resulting in what the Productivity Commission calls a "thicket" of inconsistency.<\/p>\n
Industry groups argue complicated regulations add to the cost of new homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Evidence heard by a Senate inquiry into productivity, which Senator Bragg chaired, found the last seven years of code changes have added $3,600 to $33,000 to the cost of a new house.<\/p>\n