Peak employer construction groups to get $6m to speed up safety accreditation, aid construction of 40,000 affordable homes

The federal government will give $6m to aid the safety accreditation of builders so they are able to construct homes under its House Australia Future Fund (HAFF) and National Housing Accord (NHA). As it stands the government says more than 550 companies are accredited through the Federal Safety Commissioner’s Work Health and Safety Accreditation Scheme, which enable them to work on large projects funded through the housing schemes. Peak employer associations including the Housing Industry Association, Master Builders Australia and Australian Industry Group will receive up to $2m each to help builders get accreditation to build homes approved under the $10bn HAFF and NHA. The NHA will support the build 10,000 affordable homes in the fives years from 2024-25, with state and territory governments committing to build a total of 1.2m homes in exchange for $3.5m in incentives. The HAFF is promised to deliver 30,000 new social and affordable rental homes, with the government this week announcing the first tranche of 185 approved homes to drive 13,700 new builds. However it’s been criticised for the slow roll out of the program which began in November 2023. Despite this, Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt said increasing the number of accredited builders would help address “Australia’s need for more housing”. “The three peak employer associations eligible for funding were selected due to their strong record of providing advice to their members on work health and safety systems,” Senator Watt said. “This grant program will help residential builders improve their safety systems and processes to obtain accreditation under the Government’s Work Health and Safety Accreditation Scheme.” The announcement comes after the government suffered a bruising series of set backs in relation to its Help to Buy scheme. The shared equity program which aims to help up to 40,000 homebuyers purchase a home through a government contribution of up to 40 per cent has been opposed by the Greens and the Coalition, with a vote on the Bill now delayed for another two months. On Wednesday, Senator Watt announced he will reconvene the National Construction Industry Forum and bring together the government, union groups and workplace associations for a “reset” following the CFMEU fall out. “We need to fundamentally change the culture of this industry,” he said. “We need a major reset in Australia’s construction industry, and we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to do it.” However, the decision was criticised by the opposition’s spokeswoman for employment Michaelia Cash questioned the effectiveness of the forum, and instead reissued demands for Labor to reinstate the Australian Building and Construction Commission. “What has the building forum done to date? Absolutely nothing. Another roundtable is not going to help anybody,” she said. “We know what needs to be done, restore the building watchdog, get the building code back in. You could do that in the Senate (on Thursday and) send it down to the House of Representatives when they return in October.”