24 January 2024
Less than a month in, 2024 is shaping up to be another challenging year for the building and construction industry.
Master Builders Queensland has set a strong agenda to ensure the sector is well-placed to perform its role in supporting a growing Queensland now, and into the future.
The peak industry body has launched its 2024 Policy and Advocacy Agenda, calling for government to support the industry as it advocates for sustainable businesses, better building practices, and fair and reasonable regulation.
As Queensland remains in the grips of a housing crisis, with the supply of new dwellings continuing to slide, the state is also reeling from a brutal start to the annual storm season and facing a huge pipeline of major projects combined with a skilled labour shortage.
“These conditions make it crucial the industry has a clear path forward to ensure it is well-positioned not only to weather these existing challenges, but to tackle those that will inevitably present themselves across the next 12 months,” Master Builders CEO Paul Bidwell said.
“We have an enormous pipeline of non-residential work underway this year and beyond, including Queensland Health capital works, Olympic and Paralympic Games projects which are currently under review, water infrastructure, and renewable energy projects. There is also a large unmet demand for new housing supply crucial to addressing current need and keeping up with Queensland’s booming population.
“To deliver on these we need to ensure builders can run sustainable, profitable businesses, do more with less and develop new ways of building without burning out our current workforce – as well as attract and retain more skilled workers to our industry to overcome existing labour shortages.
“We must have fair regulation of the entire construction supply chain, and roll back red tape, to boost industry productivity and remove the roadblocks of complexity and costs that don’t provide a clear benefit.
“This means starting with the new National Construction Code requirements and delays and blockages in planning approvals, both of which are hampering the delivery of new housing.
“We must also encourage greater innovation in the sector. We have requested the Queensland Government commit to provide support and training for builders to transition to modern methods of construction (MMC).
“As the industry is called upon to build with greater resilience in the face of increased incidences of extreme weather, and work towards Net Zero carbon by 2050, we also need government to back us with incentives for property owners to engage licensed contractors to carry out work to improve the sustainability and resilience of existing homes.
“We are confident that we have the plan in place to address these challenges – but it’s vital we have government support to effect real and measurable change during these unprecedented times.”
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