Liberal frontbencher Andrew Bragg has backflipped following claims Australians will \u201cdefinitely\u201d have to accept substandard housing. <\/p>\n
The opposition spokesman for housing took the Coalition\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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 \u201cyes, definitely\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd, I think we\u2019ve got to be clear there are trade-offs here,\u201d he continued. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I\u2019ve been counselled not to use the term \u2018Maslow\u2019s hierarchy\u2019 because perhaps some people don\u2019t know what that means. But I mean, if \u2014 if it\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next day, however, Senator Bragg issued a correction to his social media accounts, claiming to have \u201cmisheard\u201d host Sally Sara\u2019s question about housing standards.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did not intend to agree that houses complying with the Basic Australian Standard (the Coalition\u2019s reduced code) would be \u2018substandard\u2019. They wouldn\u2019t be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHouses 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Coalition has sought to pressure Labor over its record on housing two years into the National Housing Accord \u2013 an ambitious plan to build 1.2 million well-located new homes by mid-2029 which has fallen behind.<\/p>\n
In his address, Senator Bragg said it was \u201cnow illegal to build a cheap house in Australia\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs we have already promised, we will pare this back to cut building costs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have recommended a \u2018Basic Australian Standard\u2019 focusing on the core elements with safety as the basis. Everything else is optional. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt establishes essential structural, fire safety, and health-related building standards, in a cost-effective way. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnything else like mandatory ramps, flattened shower flooring or reinforced walls would be optional extras.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senator Bragg admitted in his address that the \u201cThe house won\u2019t be gold plated but it won\u2019t fall apart. It will be safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Affordable housing advocates Everybody\u2019s Home spokesman Maiy Azize said stripping back the construction code was \u201cabout helping developers make even more money from the housing crisis by making it easier to build unliveable homes\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone deserves a safe, decent and affordable home. It\u2019s where people sleep, study, raise their families and build their lives,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liberal frontbencher Andrew Bragg has backflipped following claims Australians will \u201cdefinitely\u201d have to accept substandard housing. The opposition…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[100777,100780,100765,100767,100735,100747,100760,100757,100753,100769,100778,80397,100737,38094,39839,50039,86005,25939,100755,100750,100779,100739,78398,22,23,7458,21,100761,70455,2184,38767,100768,15096,100774,100770,77068,99269,100740,7424,100738,47290,100741,12665,41448,3545,100731,100732,100766,100742,156,2309,45843,20169,100754,100746,100781,100752,379,100772,100776,7350,100763,100733,62528,100758,100736,968,25659,45849,100734,54475,100745,100759,100773,100775,100762,100749,48513,10264,100756,100783,50327,95113,100764,44441,100771,98125,83095,43291,100730,100748,45162,58752,44709,43160,100743,100751,82466,38329,100744,100782],"class_list":["post-72016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-basic-australian-standard","tag-misheard","tag-housing-claim","tag-s-andrew-braggs","tag-s-hierarchy","tag-s-home-spokesman-maiy-azize","tag-s-housing-agenda","tag-s-question","tag-s-reduced-code","tag-1-2-million-well-located-new-homes","tag-a-cheap-house","tag-a-correction","tag-a-cost-effective-way","tag-a-home","tag-a-house","tag-a-liberal-frontbencher","tag-a-safe","tag-abc-radio-national","tag-affordable-housing-advocates","tag-all-the-basic-amenity","tag-almost-2000-pages","tag-an-ambitious-plan","tag-anything-else","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australians","tag-austrlia","tag-behind-in","tag-building-costs","tag-canberra","tag-claims","tag-decent-and-affordable-home","tag-developers","tag-essential-structural","tag-even-more-money","tag-everything-else","tag-fire-safety","tag-flattened-shower-flooring","tag-gold","tag-health-related-building-standards","tag-his-address","tag-his-social-media-accounts","tag-host","tag-houses","tag-housing","tag-housing-standards","tag-insulation","tag-its-record","tag-just-80","tag-labor","tag-liberal","tag-liberal-frontbencher-andrew-bragg","tag-low-income-earners","tag-mandatory-ramps","tag-maslow","tag-mid-2029","tag-more-houses","tag-newswire-news","tag-offs","tag-optional-extras","tag-people","tag-perhaps-some-people","tag-plumbing","tag-question","tag-reinforced-walls","tag-safe-and-sound-homes","tag-safety","tag-sally-sara","tag-senator-bragg","tag-sewerage-etc","tag-strong","tag-substandard","tag-substandard-housing","tag-substandard-housing-claim","tag-the-the-house","tag-the-affordability-crisis","tag-the-basic-australian-standard","tag-the-basis","tag-the-coalition","tag-the-construction-code","tag-the-core-elements","tag-the-following-day","tag-the-housing-crisis","tag-the-housing-system","tag-the-industry","tag-the-national-construction-code","tag-the-national-housing-accord","tag-the-national-press-club","tag-the-next-day","tag-the-opposition-spokesman","tag-the-original-question","tag-the-plan","tag-the-term","tag-their-families","tag-their-lives","tag-this-back","tag-this-position","tag-this-standard","tag-two-years","tag-unliveable-homes","tag-wednesday-asked"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}