The state government has promised more homes for Queenslanders following new moves to reduce “the administrative and paperwork burden on builders.”
Housing Minister Sam O’Connor announced changes which he said would “make it easier for builders, tradies and subbies to get on with the job, delivering the homes Queensland needs sooner.”
Big across-the-board changes will include “scrapping unnecessary financial reporting for more than 50,000 individual operators, more time to meet new fire protection licensing rules to minimise disruption to important work, scrapping occupational licence fees for plumbers doing fire protection work, fast tracking the digitising of licensing and administrative processes and amending legislation governing the Queensland Building and Construction Commission to remove duplicate workplace safety notification requirements.”
Mr O’Connor said this followed establishment of a Productivity Commission to review the construction industry “to identify opportunities to boost productivity, which is lagging behind other states.”
He said the program would “deliver immediate relief for tradies sick of getting bogged down in unnecessary paperwork and provide support for the 270,000 Queenslanders working in the $59 billion industry. ”
The Productivity Commision review would look at security of payments within the industry.
The changes would be rolled out gradually “to give builders, subcontractors and homeowners greater certainty and fairness.”
“We have a huge challenge ahead of us to fix (the) housing crisis.
“Slashing red tape is crucial to unlocking construction in Queensland,” he said.
Master Builders CEO Paul Bidwell welcomed the plan and said his organisation had been calling for action for years.
