Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

Goodwill amongst governments is one thing, but what we also need to make sure of in this motion, put forward by the member for North Sydney, is that housing can still be affordable. I very much appreciate that a better insulated house is going to reduce energy prices. That's understandable. I have no qualms, no questions there. But what we can't do is push the prices up because of ideology so that it makes new homes, or any homes for that matter, renovations or refurbishments unaffordable to the average buyer.

Stricter energy standards for new homes and those new laws and regulations put in place in New South Wales are seeing the cost of building a house in Wagga Wagga, in my home town, surge by up to $30,000. Yes, it may also lead to cheaper energy bills for residents. But when we've got higher prices for groceries, higher prices for energy costs, high costs for everything—for cost of living—why would we want to go and, just for the sake of ideology, push the price of the average house or the new homebuyer house up by $30,000?

The New South Wales government announced—this is going back to September last year—that all new homes and renovations that cost more than $50,000 will need to meet a seven-star energy rating from October this year. The minimum rating at the time that was announced was just 5.5 stars. Builders were told that part of this legislation meant they would need to start implementing better insulation, more double-glazed windows and smarter layouts to reach the new requirement. Some might argue, 'Well, that's all well and good,' but this is an industry that is fighting the good fight against higher prices for timber. Where do they source timber? Nobody in this country these days seems to want to cut down a tree. The price for just the metal brackets—if you can get those metal brackets, imported or otherwise—to go on frames has gone through the roof. The price has soared.

I regularly get texts from Wagga Wagga builder Wayne Carter. He described the change brought about by the state government as 'another blow for the construction industry', which is also facing, like every other industry, the question of where do they find labour? If they can find labour, how much do they have to pay those workers to keep them, to retain them in the sector? He said: 'It's been on the table for a while, and we've all been shuddering for it to be adopted. It means it's going to cost so much more to build a house, and that's a cost which the local people who want to own homes can ill afford.' I agree with Mr Carter.

I know from very, very personal experience—my wife, Catherine, worked in the industry for 17 years as a regional manager. Her company, Dennis Family Homes, a Melbourne based company, has shut up some of its regional operations because of the downturn in the industry. It's tough. And I know, despite the measures put in place by the member for Deakin when he was the Minister for Housing to make sure the industry was its best self during COVID, it was hard to find labour. It was hard for the industry—whether they were local small-time operators or whether they were a big housing company like Dennis or others—to make ends meet. But not only that, Labor comes to government and promises one million affordable social houses. I say good luck with that. I'll be watching with keen interest to see if that actually comes off.

Glenn Maslin, another local house builder in Wagga Wagga, says: 'The price of housing has increased by 15 per cent because of COVID, and now you're looking at another five per cent on top of that. The industry's going to suffer from all of these additional changes that seem to keep coming in.' So it's difficult. In this space, we need to think about those people. It's about balance.

I acknowledge the member for North Sydney and her good intent with this private member's bill, but we need to make sure that we can keep housing affordable for the person who wants to get into their new house or buy for their family.

See this speech in context