David Pocock has branded parts of Peter Dutton's new $5bn housing policy “seriously regressive”, as housing experts questioned whether it would saddle families on the fringes of cities with invisible costs.
The opposition revealed its plans on Saturday to alleviate the country's real estate crisis.
Dutton's proposal to commit $5 billion to greenfield development across the country was quickly dismissed by Labor ministers as a “road to nowhere”, a “card trick” and a copy of Labour's current programme. of $1.5 billion to fund critical housing infrastructure.
Independent ACT senator David Pocock described Dutton's proposal to freeze national building codes as “seriously regressive” and showed the opposition was continuing its record of “climate change denial”.
Housing experts have also questioned whether choosing undeveloped outer suburban areas was the most profitable route in the long term.
The Coalition announced on Saturday that $5 billion in funding, in the form of grants and concessional loans, would go to industry and state, territory and local governments to build enabling infrastructure such as water, energy and sewage.
Up to 500,000 homes could be built on mostly undeveloped land, the opposition claimed, and if a development did not progress within 12 months of receiving funding, its grant or loan would be cancelled.
Dutton's plan also proposes freezing any changes to national building codes for 10 years, claiming that upgrades, such as those requiring new homes to meet higher energy efficiency standards, have added thousands of dollars to home prices. the homes.
It is backed by some industry groups including the Planning Institute of Australia, the Property Council and Grasp Builders.
On Saturday, Dutton said the “hands-on” policy would “free up more land” and “encourage investment and get product to market more quickly.”
Dutton said the modeling and costs of the policy were based on “discussions with literally hundreds of councils, with experts, economists and other people who know this space very well.”
The policy reflects the Albanian government's $500 million in funding for state, territory and local governments until mid-2025, with another $1 billion to enable infrastructure.
That funding is part of the federal government's broader plan to deliver 1.2 million homes by the end of the decade, a promise that has yet to be fulfilled.
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Housing Minister Clare O'Neil said Dutton's proposal would still cut $19 billion from Labor's housing commitments, including the Australian Housing Future Fund, which has been in place since November 2023. .
Two other key proposals, the Help to Buy and Build to Rent plans, have failed to pass parliament without backing from the opposition or the Greens.
“This ad is Peter Dutton giving with one hand and receiving with the other. “It’s a card trick,” O’Neil said.
Labor Relations Minister Murray Watt told ABC's Insiders on Sunday that the opposition plan was a “road to nowhere”.
“He will provide the infrastructure works, the same works that we are providing, but he will not provide the housing, which we are providing, at the end of those roads,” he said.
Matt Collins, chief executive of the Planning Institute of Australia, welcomed the opposition's announcement. He said construction costs had increased by 40% and construction times had soared by up to 47% in the past five years.
“Good planning ensures that investments are made where they will have the greatest impact, supporting sustainable growth and efficient development. “This is essential to deliver a cost-effective and well-sequenced infrastructure,” he said.
But Australian Center for Housing Research director Emma Baker said choosing to focus on greenfield land would simply “kick the can down the road” on house prices.
While Baker said the focus on enabling infrastructure was “fantastic”, developing new sites far from major urban centers and with limited services would cost more money in the long run.
“This puts at a disadvantage those families who can barely afford to buy their own home. “They are stuck with the long-term costs, which are not factored into the price of the home,” he said.
Those longer-term costs can include more expensive transportation and higher municipal rates to fund services in new suburbs and cities.
Baker also shared Pocock's concerns about a 10-year freeze on building codes (rules that determine the minimum quality new homes must meet) saying it “goes against all the sound evidence we have.”
“We have some of the coldest, worst-built houses in the world,” Baker said.
“Why would you say 'Australia doesn't build very good quality houses but hey, let's keep it up for the next 10 years'? “Australia should be catching up on the quality of the homes we build, rather than freezing.”
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