August CEO Update - Judith Blake

Last week the Treasurer led the Economic Reform Roundtable, supported by other key ministers. You are likely to have seen media reports from this event, referring to possible outcomes for the National Construction Code (NCC).

On Sunday 24 August, the Minister for Housing, Homelessness and Cities, Clare O’Neil, and the Minister for the Environment and Water, Murray Watt, issued a joint media release. This media release advised that a decision has been made to pause further residential changes to the NCC until the end of the National Housing Accord period (mid-2029), following finalisation of NCC 2025. Please note that this pause excludes essential safety and quality changes.

I am sure that industry and other stakeholders are eager to hear the outcome of timing for adoption and implementation of NCC 2025, which is to be considered by Building Ministers. We will provide an update as soon as we can.

As part of our commitment to provide more visibility of our work and the matters the Board is considering, we publish a brief Public Record after each Board meeting.

During the Board meeting held on 31 July 2025, Board members discussed opportunities to support improvements in housing and construction productivity, the ABCB budget status, and the status of the next edition of the NCC. Read more in the Public Record of the July Board meeting.

We have been working with the state and territory plumbing regulators and industry to raise awareness of, and progress the transition to, lead free plumbing products. This initiative is important to ensure our drinking water is even safer. We acknowledge the significant contribution of industry to the transition.

Work continues on the development of appropriate and robust product specifications for the evaluation and WaterMark certification of plumbing and drainage products. As new or amended product specifications are developed, we release them for public consultation via our Consultation Hub. We will let you know about open consultations through updates on our website, newsletter and social media channels.

Last month we published an issues paper for the National Voluntary Certification Scheme for Manufacturers of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC). 

We are keen to hear your input on the questions raised throughout the paper.  Your comments will help us develop the Scheme, along with consistent definitions for MMC to be included in the NCC. These initiatives aim to support productivity growth in the construction sector in Australia by making it easier for MMC manufacturers to meet NCC requirements. 

If you’d like to share your ideas, make sure you submit your feedback via our Consultation Hub by this Friday 29 August (11:59 pm AEST). 

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Regards

Judith