Building and construction

We work with state and territory governments to ensure a more efficient, safe, and internationally competitive building, plumbing and construction industry. This includes promoting nationally consistent regulations such as the National Construction Code (NCC).

The NCC balances the building and construction sector’s needs with performance standards and minimum requirements for buildings to achieve:

• safety and health
• amenity and accessibility
• sustainability

Collaborating on building policy

To address policy and regulatory issues, the Australian Government minister responsible for the building industry chairs the Building Ministers’ Meeting (BMM), formerly the Building Ministers’ Forum. The Australian Government collaborates with state and territory governments through the BMM and the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB).

Restoring confidence in the building industry

We support efforts to restore confidence in building and construction standards that protect the interests of those who own, work, live or conduct business in Australian buildings. The Australian Government does not have constitutional power to regulate the built environment. This sits with state and territory governments.

We work through the BMM to restore confidence by:

• mitigating the public safety risks of industry non‑compliance
• addressing systemic problems in the industry consistently and in a timely way
• considering national priority reforms for states and territories to implement
• establishing the Building Confidence Report Implementation Team to develop and report on a national framework for implementation

Ensuring building safety and quality

State and territory governments regulate building and construction activities. They have legislation that gives legal effect to the NCC.

Each jurisdiction is responsible for:

• licensing building practitioners
• certifying buildings
• enforcing building regulations
• identifying non-compliant building products

You can propose changes to the NCC on the ABCB website.

Advice for builders, building owners and tenants

If you own an apartment and you are concerned it might have a defect or issue, contact the body corporate or owners' corporation. If you rent an apartment, contact your landlord to raise your concerns.

If you own another kind of property, contact the consumer protection agency or building regulator in the state or territory it is located.

If you are a builder or work in the building industry, and want to know how regulations and reforms will impact your business, contact your state or territory regulator.

See the ABCB website for contact details and links to building planning resources in each state and territory including:

• information about non-conforming building products
• building cladding audits that identify which buildings are high risk
• how to raise concerns

Building inquiries and reviews

We provide input and respond to parliamentary inquiries including the:

• Senate inquiry into non-conforming building products
• Senate inquiry into the use of smoke alarms

We review the Disability (Access to Premises—Buildings) Standards 2010 (Premises Standards) every 5 years. The rules ensure that new buildings, or new work on old buildings, provide the right levels of access for people with disability. Read more about our Premises Standards reviews.

The Government commissioned the national review of security of payment laws to help ensure building subcontractors get paid on time.

Read more

Read the package of reforms in the Building Confidence Report

Contact us

Email BuildingIndustry@industry.gov.au

See also

Find out about Australia's Standard and Conformance Infrastructure