Latest news with #NationalConstructionCode
AU Financial Review
a day ago
- Business
- AU Financial Review
Government to freeze housing code as part of red tape blitz
Housing Minister Clare O'Neil has reaffirmed the government's intention to prohibit further adjustments to the National Construction Code to reduce compliance costs and building delays, as the government swings the focus of next week's economic summit away from tax towards red tape reduction and deregulation. O'Neil, who a week ago told The Australian Financial Review the code freeze was in play, despite Labor attacking the opposition for taking such a policy to the last election, said on Thursday her consultation with industry had driven a change in thinking.
The Age
a day ago
- Politics
- The Age
Australia news LIVE: David Stratton dies; Albanese, Chalmers react to leaked treasury document; Hamas denies praising Australia's Palestine recognition decision; Watt protects salmon farming in Tasmania
Latest posts Latest posts 5.08pm Bail denials trigger juvenile jail rise By Jack Gramenz and Alexander Darling Almost 10 classrooms worth of children are in jail in NSW, alone as bail changes trigger a sharp increase in custody numbers. NSW Premier Chris Minns defended his bail changes on Thursday as data showed more than 230 children were in NSW jails in June. That figure was 34 per cent higher than two years earlier, the state's crime statistics bureau said. It reversed a trend of declining numbers of jailed children, the bureau's executive director Jackie Fitzgerald said. The majority of jailed children have not been convicted, with only 66 in custody due to sentencing. More than 70 per cent are on remand while they go through the court process. But the increase is not necessarily driven by laws placing additional tests on bail, suggesting access to bail has tightened. 'It seems to be beyond just the offences that were targeted or the particular circumstances that were targeted under the legislative change,' Ms Fitzgerald said. Loading The state government has limited access to bail for children aged 14 and over accused of break-and-enter and motor vehicle theft offences while bailed on similar charges. Bail for accused domestic violence offenders has also been restricted. In Victoria, the state government announced changes to it bail laws in March following some high-profile offences. Parts of the reforms were introduced later so that the state could hire extra corrections staff to cope with the expected influx there. With AAP 4.59pm 'These are not new ideas': Opposition says Labor supporting ideas it opposed at election By Alexander Darling Staying with Afternoon Briefing, and the opposition has had its say on that leaked Treasury document suggesting what the outcomes of next week's productivity roundtable should be in advance. 'I think it's very curious that two of the Treasury ideas were ideas that we had at the last election,' said Shadow Minister for Housing and Productivity, Senator Andrew Bragg, when he went on the show. 'That tells you that the central agency thinks that coalition policy ideas are credible.' 'In fact, the government said during the last campaign that changing the National Construction Code was a bad idea and, in fact, Ed Husic said that it would result in there being bad houses or shoddy housing in Australia. 'So, there was a reason this was our policy - because we knew there was a lot of red tape in the housing sector. And in relation to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, we also had a policy there to remove some of the red tape and to get the approvals moving.' 'These are not new ideas. These are ideas that Labor would have known about last term. But instead of actually helping housing, in the last term, they put in place lots and lots of red tape.' Bragg also wouldn't be drawn on whether he still supported the opposition's pledge from this year's election campaign, to cut new migrants by 100,000 people a year. Host Patricia Karvelas noted Shadow Home Affairs Minister Andrew Hastie reaffirmed his support for this target last week.
ABC News
a day ago
- Business
- ABC News
Treasurer downplays leaked department document listing possible outcomes of productivity round table
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has downplayed a leaked document from his department that included possible outcomes of the government's upcoming productivity round table, saying it should not come as a "big surprise" that briefings have been prepared. The pre-written list of recommended outcomes, prepared for cabinet and seen by the ABC, includes advice to pause changes to the National Construction Code, which is similar to a Coalition proposal that was panned by Labor at the federal election. Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has seized on the document as evidence that the much-touted talks are a "stitch-up", despite the government's repeated pledge to not rule anything in or out before business leaders, unions and economists gather at Parliament House on Wednesday. "When I read information that says it's all been choreographed, it's all been lined up, even to the level of announcements being made from outcomes, I wonder whether people who are attending this round table are indeed wasting their time," Ms Ley told reporters in Adelaide on Thursday. The treasurer, however, was adamant that the forum was a "genuine attempt" to tackle big issues in the economy and that the government did not "pre-empt any of the reform directions" that would come out of it. "I don't think it should come as a big surprise to anyone that the Treasury has been briefing us on those ideas, helping us to prepare for those proposals that people have said that they will put to us," he said. The Treasury advice, first reported by the ABC on Thursday, also included measures to speed up housing approvals, such as 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 Act. Mr Chalmers would not be drawn on on whether the government would accept the recommendation to pause changes to the National Construction Code, telling reporters "there are a number of issues that have been proposed to us". He also stressed that the document was "not a government announcement" and that the recommendations within it were not government policy. "I have been consulting for weeks now in probably one of the most intensive periods of consultation that people have seen for a long time and ideas like that have been put to us, not just those ideas that have been reported today but probably hundreds of different ideas have been put to us," he said. Housing Minister Clare O'Neil confirmed the code would be up for discussion at the talks, but echoed the treasurer in stating she did not want to pre-empt any outcomes. 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. Mr Chalmers has repeatedly said nothing would be off the table at the talks, only specifying that any proposal should be budget positive or at least budget neutral. He has previously flagged that tax reform would be a priority, but that was thrown into question after the prime minister last week suggested the government was "only" looking at tax policies it took to the election. Earlier on Thursday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also batted away accusations the meeting was a waste of time, saying "ideas are popping up all the time". "Those ideas are getting assessed as they're being made. Government will make decisions, to be very clear, governments make decisions," he said. "What next week is, though, is an opportunity for people to advance their ideas, to advance policies, and that's a really constructive thing."
Perth Now
2 days ago
- Business
- Perth Now
Leak proves talkfest ‘choreographed'
A leak revealing the Treasury pre-wrote a list of outcomes from Labor's much-hyped economic roundtable is proof the 'whole exercise is being choreographed', Sussan Ley says. The roundtable will not happen until next week, and yet a Treasury document showed pre-written advice for cabinet, the ABC reported on Thursday. Among the recommendations was pausing the National Construction Code, which sets safety and environmental standards for buildings. The code has been criticised, including by the Productivity Commission, for driving up the cost of construction by imposing overly strict regulations. The leaked document also recommended a plan to roll out artificial intelligence to process building approvals. The Opposition Leader said it was clear the government already knew what it wanted from the upcoming roundtable. Opposition Leader Sussan Ley says Labor's economic roundtable is 'choreographed'. Dean Martin / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia 'It's all been lined up, statements are ready to go out,' Ms Ley told Nine's Today. 'People are going there in good faith and they want to see outcomes. 'They want see us growing the economic pie and they want to see Australians pay less tax and be rewarded for their effort. 'I fear that none of those things are actually on the agenda at this productivity roundtable.' Her predecessor, Peter Dutton, took a 10-year pause on the National Construction Code to the federal election. Whether the policy remains in line with Ms Ley's vision for the Coalition is unclear. Further on housing, the Treasury advice recommended measures to streamline housing approvals and reforms to clear a backlog of 30,000 applications waiting to clear environmental hurdles. The artificial intelligence plan would be key to getting through that backlog. The focus on housing comes amid widespread expectations the Albanese government will fall short of its pledge to build 1.2 million homes by 2030. A reported Treasury leak shows a list of outcomes from Labor's economic roundtable before it has happened. Martin Ollman / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth defended the pre-written advice, saying it was normal for Treasury officials to prepare notes based on conversations in the lead-up to the big talks. 'It's not surprising that Treasury would prepare advice to government and, of course, in the lead-up to the productivity roundtable, there has been ministers and other organisations holding a lot of discussions,' Ms Rishworth told the ABC. 'There's been other roundtables led by government ministers discussing some of the challenges and some of the opportunities.' She added that it was 'a really good opportunity to bring people together and look at the very long term of what we need to do as a country'.
AU Financial Review
2 days ago
- Business
- AU Financial Review
Treasury document outlines outcomes of economic roundtable
A Treasury paper that reportedly confirms the government will freeze further changes to the National Construction Code vindicates the federal opposition, which took the policy to the last election and was criticised for it by Labor. On Friday last week, Housing Minister Clare O'Neil told The Australian Financial Review the government was likely to freeze the code to help speed up the construction of homes.
