Housing industry to call for $12b cut in red tape costs

The building industry will demand the Albanese government slash 25 per cent of an estimated annual $47.5 billion in red tape stifling housing construction, in a push to make the sector’s productivity a key focus of the 2026-27 federal budget.

The push comes as a new report on the Australian economy by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development warned that productivity growth in construction had not increased for a “remarkably long period” and attributed this to regulatory burden.