Liberal frontbencher Andrew Bragg has backflipped following claims Australians will “definitely” have to accept substandard housing.
The opposition spokesman for housing took the Coalition’s housing agenda, which seeks to slash the National Construction Code from almost 2000 pages to just 80, to the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.
Asked the following day on ABC Radio National whether the plan meant low-income earners would have to accept substandard housing in order to afford a home, Senator Bragg said “yes, definitely”.
“And, I think we’ve got to be clear there are trade-offs here,” he continued.
“And I’ve been counselled not to use the term ‘Maslow’s hierarchy’ because perhaps some people don’t know what that means. But I mean, if — if it’s more important to have a house than to not have a house, and so given the affordability crisis we have in the housing system, we need to just build more houses.”
The next day, however, Senator Bragg issued a correction to his social media accounts, claiming to have “misheard” host Sally Sara’s question about housing standards.
“I did not intend to agree that houses complying with the Basic Australian Standard (the Coalition’s reduced code) would be ‘substandard’. They wouldn’t be,” he said.
“Houses built to this standard would be strong, safe and sound homes with all the basic amenity, such as insulation, plumbing, sewerage etc. This position has been strongly backed by the industry.”
The Coalition has sought to pressure Labor over its record on housing two years into the National Housing Accord – an ambitious plan to build 1.2 million well-located new homes by mid-2029 which has fallen behind.
In his address, Senator Bragg said it was “now illegal to build a cheap house in Australia”.
“As we have already promised, we will pare this back to cut building costs,” he said.
“We have recommended a ‘Basic Australian Standard’ focusing on the core elements with safety as the basis. Everything else is optional.
“It establishes essential structural, fire safety, and health-related building standards, in a cost-effective way.
“Anything else like mandatory ramps, flattened shower flooring or reinforced walls would be optional extras.”
Senator Bragg admitted in his address that the “The house won’t be gold plated but it won’t fall apart. It will be safe.”
Affordable housing advocates Everybody’s Home spokesman Maiy Azize said stripping back the construction code was “about helping developers make even more money from the housing crisis by making it easier to build unliveable homes”.
“Everyone deserves a safe, decent and affordable home. It’s where people sleep, study, raise their families and build their lives,” she said.