Leaked Treasury advice lists possible outcomes of Labor's yet-to-be held roundtable
The pre-written list, prepared for cabinet and seen by the ABC, shows advice from Treasury to pause the National Construction Code, similar to a proposal by former opposition leader Peter Dutton that was panned by Labor at the federal election.
It also recommends measures to speed up housing approvals, including a national artificial intelligence plan to cut environmental red tape, and reforms to clear a backlog of 30,000 housing approvals currently being assessed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity (EPBC) Act.
Industry has approached next week's summit cautiously, after some business leaders left the government's 2022 'Jobs and Skills Summit' feeling the government had entered with a pre-determined outcome.
Shadow Treasurer Ted O'Brien last month warned the government not to approach the economic summit with an "agenda", or else it would risk it becoming a "talkfest".
A spokesman for Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the government was consulting widely and broadly on economic reforms ahead of the round table.
"We aren't pre-empting ideas floated there, but Treasury is preparing for them as you would expect," the spokesman said.
"It should come as no surprise that Treasury provides advice on issues raised with the government, including issues raised in the context of the round table."
The advice issued ahead of the three-day Economic Reform Roundtable reveals what the government expects to achieve during the talks, and while the document has been prepared for cabinet, the government does not have to accept all of it.
Economic experts, unions and business groups will descend on Parliament House in Canberra next week for the wide-ranging discussion, designed to fulfil the government's promise to focus on boosting productivity in its second term.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers told the National Press Club in June that he wanted the forum to consider tax reform as a priority, but Prime Minister Anthony Albanese played down expectations last week, suggesting the "only" tax policy the government was implementing was what it took to the election.
Mr Albanese told the ABC on Tuesday, however, his government was "up for big reform".
The Treasury document seen by the ABC does not make any recommendation to reform negative gearing rules or capital gains tax benefits for landlords, politically prickly issues that union groups have urged be put back on the agenda.
The government has previously indicated it has no plan to change either.
Rather, several of the recommendations mention reform of environmental laws, a task which falls to Environment Minister Murray Watt after the government was unable to pass changes to the laws last term.
The National Construction Code governs minimum construction standards for safety, amenity and environmental sustainability of buildings, but its critics say recent and frequent changes to rules drive up the cost of housing.
The Productivity Commission recommended a review of the code earlier this year, saying the set of construction rules had blown out to 2,000 pages, and was imposing "unnecessarily high" costs on building new homes.
The Coalition proposed a 10-year freeze on changes to the code at the last election, to reduce "red tape" for the building sector.
It was a policy Labor dismissed at the time, with then-industry minister Ed Husic accusing the opposition of wanting Australians to live in "shoddy" homes.
"We certainly believe that we should have modest, regular changes to the code that keep pace with construction methods," Mr Husic said in November.
The new Treasury advice does not specify how long the government should pause changes to the code for.
But Master Builders chief executive Denita Wawn said she is lobbying to freeze the code for residential homes for four years, while the government tries to reach its goal of 1.2 million homes by mid-2029.
"Our ask is that you pause it for residential, you review the whole document and we ensure that there is a level of consistency to enable people to actually have the certainty of what their costs will be when they invest in housing in this country," Ms Wawn told the ABC.
"That is critical if we're going to meet those targets."
She said the government so far seemed "sympathetic" to her calls for the pause.
Housing Minister Clare O'Neil told the Australian Financial Review last week that builders had to contend with "a crazy amount" of regulation.
Environmental law reform also appears to be a centrepiece of the treasurer's round table plans, with department advice recommending a national artificial intelligence plan focused on speeding up approvals.
It also suggests the government needs to clear a backlog of 30,000 homes being held up by the EPBC Act assessment process.
Labor is attempting to rewrite the EPBC Act, which sets out environmental protections for developments, following calls from conservation and business groups that they are outdated and ineffective.
A joint coalition of 27 business groups has called for the unifying of federal, state and local environmental regulations in a submission to the round table, saying delays in planning approvals are costing Australians much needed homes.
The Treasury document does not specify how AI would assist in streamlining environmental approvals.
Treasury has also advised the government to support corporate watchdog ASIC to review a rule to "unlock more investment in residential construction".
ASIC announced it would conduct the review on Wednesday, which aims to boost superannuation funds' ability to invest in housing projects by changing the way they disclose stamp duty payments.
Housing Minister Clare O'Neil has welcomed the review, telling the ABC it was a "hugely positive move that could help us unlock billions of investment, and build 35,000 additional homes for Australians".
Shadow Housing Minister Andrew Bragg said the decision was "deeply disturbing" and would mean superannuation funds would be more Australians' landlords.
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