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Australia Transfers Housing Oversight to Treasury as O’Neil Targets Red Tape

She says streamlining planning rules is crucial to meeting the government’s mid-2029 housing target.

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Overview

  • Housing Minister Clare O’Neil has moved all federal housing responsibilities into the Treasury department to centralise efforts on the crisis.
  • She argues that 40 years of cumulative planning and construction regulations have made building affordable homes uneconomic.
  • A Productivity Commission report shows that residential construction productivity has more than halved in 30 years, with labour productivity down 12%.
  • The government’s goal is to complete an average of 240,000 dwellings annually to reach its 1.2 million homes target by mid-2029.
  • Opposition members have criticised the plan as overly interventionist, with Liberal housing spokesperson Andrew Bragg calling direct federal funding “crazy” and urging a mix of incentives and penalties for states.