Productivity Commission return key to further unravelling red tape

Master Builders CEO Paul Bidwell said the introduction of the laws in State Parliament today was another step towards addressing the challenges the industry is facing.

“We welcome the Crisafulli Government’s commitment on a comprehensive review of the regulation of our industry as the first order of business for the Productivity Commission,” Mr Bidwell said.

“Productivity has become a bit of a buzzword lately – but the numbers tell the story. The Australian Bureau of Statistics tells us it has declined 18.1 per cent in our industry nationally in the last decade.

“Work programs have been stretched due to shortages of skilled labour and limits on productive hours, and we have long been calling for urgent reform.

“The freeze on Best Practice Industry Conditions (BPIC) was a significant start. We’ve been saying for years that it drives productivity down, and pushes costs up, with flow-on effects to the private sector.

“While we look forward to the outcomes of the review, there is further action we are calling the Productivity Commission to take.

“Firstly, we maintain BPIC should be gone for good. This is nothing to do with workers’ pay and conditions, and safety is priority one. This is all about delivering state government projects on time and on budget.

“The absence of BPIC means many more trades will be encouraged to tender for this work, especially in the regions. Greater competition also means a healthier bottom line for taxpayers.

“Project Trust Accounts must also be scrapped. They increase the burden of unnecessary paperwork for builders, delay projects getting started, and don’t guarantee subcontractors get paid if a business goes bust.

“There’s a huge pipeline of work in front of us. We need the state government to continue to cut red tape and drive our industry forward.”

Read more about Master Builders’ Building Our Future plan.