Federal Homes for Australia plan puts planning reform where it belongs: at the centre

Planning reform is the centrepiece and rightly so

The Commonwealth Government’s Homes for Australia plan puts planning reform at the heart of solving Australia’s housing crisis.

Restrictive zoning and slow approvals have added an estimated $140,000 to the cost of an average new home.

Here, we echo what Minister Clare O’Neil has said in the past: “If there was one most powerful thing we can do about the long-term capacity of our country to build the homes it needs, it is state planning reform, radical, big, visionary [planning] reform.”

Productivity Commission has a chance to fix what’s broken

Abundant Housing Network Australia strongly welcomes today’s announcement of a Productivity Commission inquiry into barriers to housing supply.

We urge the Commission to look beyond approval timelines, and take direct aim at the arbitrary zoning rules, including height limits, setback requirements, and minimum lot sizes, that stop homes being built in the places where Australians most want to live.

Every state should follow Victoria’s lead, and the $2 billion infrastructure fund is the lever to make it happen

The Homes for Australia plan rightly holds up Victoria’s Townhouse and Low-Rise Code as a model of good housing reform that should be implemented nationally. The Grattan Institute estimates that the Code unlocked almost one million additional homes across Melbourne alone.

The Commonwealth must now use the conditional $2 billion Local Infrastructure Fund as leverage to ensure every other state follows suit, and implements a National Townhouse Code—a reform AHNA called for in our 2025 election policy guide, The Brick Book (opens in a new tab).