Government wants to slash red tape while addressing climate risk… is it up to the task?
The Labor Government is on a collision course with itself following the release of the National Climate Risk Assessment (NCCA) report on Monday.
Developed by the Australian Climate Service, the nearly 300-page report detailed the existential threat that climate change poses to Australia.
A total of 63 “nationally significant climate risks” was identified by the report, spanning communities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, national security, economy, environment and infrastructure, among others.
Coinciding with the publication of the NCCA was the government’s ‘National Adaptation Plan’, which laid the framework for addressing the threats laid out by the NCCA.
Within the plan, the government pledged to “work with state and territory governments to support the building ministers’ commitment to include climate resilience as a specific objective of the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB)”.
It continued: “Resilience is proposed to form an additional object of the National Construction Code (NCC)... this will give the ABCB a clear mandate to develop future NCC requirements that reduce the impact of natural hazards on housing and other critical community facilities.”
The government said it will consider current and future climates in updates to the NCC, “which may include future climate files, heatwaves and thermal comfort metrics”.
In plain English, the pledges outlined in the National Adaptation Plan centred around baking stricter climate-related measures into the all-powerful NCC, i.e. the set of mandatory technical provisions for the design and construction of buildings and other structures throughout Australia.
It is surprising then, that the government has also pledged to freeze updates to the NCC until mid-2029, once this year’s changes are made. The NCC is usually updated every three years.
Labor is on a mission to slash rep tape in the housebuilding industry under a broader plan to improve Australia’s flailing productivity rates and severe housing shortage.
The party’s cornerstone housing policy is to get 1.2 million additional homes built by 2029. Those targets are looking increasingly unlikely, or nigh on impossible if onerous regulation isn’t reduced.
Prior to last month’s Economic Reform Roundtable, housing minister Claire O’Neil said: “One of the main things that I am pushing the roundtable to think about is the significant issues that builders face today with red tape and regulation.
“I’m not someone who would normally come to a problem like this assuming that regulation is a bad thing, but I’m telling you I’ve looked at this myself, and we have made it incredibly difficult for builders to do what they do best.
“So the National Construction Code I’m sure will be a part of that conversation.”
While O’Neil stated that slashing red tap will not come at the expense of standards, she added that “it's too hard to build a home in this country. We want builders on site, not filling in forms to get their approval”.
On one hand, Labor is under immense pressure to get more Australians into homes; he has made that commitment and voters will judge the party’s track record accordingly.
But on the other hand, voters demand action on climate.
“This report is a wake-up call,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured) said of the NCCA. “Climate change is going to have an impact with more extreme weather events, more intensity and more economic costs. Every time there is a flood or a cyclone or bushfire, there’s a massive cost to Australia.”
How he squares these dual concerns will be a defining piece of his premiership.
Despite the pause, the ABCB can make adjustments to the NCC for essential safety and quality changes. Climate-related matters do not fall under this umbrella, for now.
