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Federal Government to use Economic Reform Roundtable to scale up prefab and modular housing.
The Federal Government will use this week’s Economic Reform Roundtable in Canberra to advance reforms aimed at boosting the use of prefabricated and modular housing across Australia. (main pic: SPACECUBE’s two bedroom modular Rapid Deployment Accommodation built in two days.)
Housing Minister Claire O’Neill said the summit — held at Parliament House from 19 to 21 August — is an opportunity to modernise the way homes are built in order to meet ambitious national housing targets.
“We are basically building homes the same way that we were 40 years ago, and that has to change,” O’Neill said. “What I really want from the roundtable is to walk out of that room with a clear package of what our next set of reforms look like on housing.”
With the Government behind on its target of delivering 1.2 million new homes by 2029, O’Neill said industrialised building methods such as modular and prefab construction would be central to increasing housing supply. She highlighted recent Commonwealth-supported developments, including a Sydney housing complex providing accommodation for 74 low-income households, more than half of whom were previously at risk of homelessness or living in unsuitable housing.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who will chair the Roundtable, said the Government’s productivity agenda includes investing in modern construction methods.
“We’re investing in the housing sector, in more modern methods of construction, which will make housing more productive — prefab homes and the like,” Chalmers said. “Because by doing that, we can build more homes, we can lift living standards and make people better off.”
Chalmers said the collaborative format — bringing together business, unions, government and experts — would be used to identify practical steps to scale up offsite manufacturing.
“We’ve already got a big agenda when it comes to productivity across skills, energy, technology and competition policy, but we need to do more. The best way to work out the next steps is to do that together, and that’s what the Roundtable is all about.”
For O’Neill, the focus is straightforward: “It’s to build, build, build — and to make sure we’re using every tool available to get people into homes faster.”
