In October 2016 then-treasurer Scott Morrison told the Urban Development Institute that loosening building laws to build higher, bigger and faster would help solve the housing crisis. Last October the Property Council screamed that “apartment red tape threatens affordability”. As recently as March this year the Urban Taskforce insisted that NSW should review its planning system to “remove red tape”. And in June, the Institute for Public Affairs welcomed “the Morrison government’s economic reform agenda to cut red tape”.In effect they insisted that legitimising rubbish housing was the key to affordability. Developers, went the unstated theory, couldn’t be expected to do anything but gouge the market. To build anything affordable, therefore, they had essentially to be subsidised - with dodgy materials, permissive planning, outsize buildings, suspect certification and professionals more flexible than your average yoga-mat. They had to be allowed to produce crap.Except that suddenly – 10 years on - these crap homes, for which almost all public protection has been ritually burned, don’t look terribly affordable at all. In fact, they look like cynical, developer-fattening honey-traps set to impoverish families, communities, and the construction industry for years to come.And suddenly they’re all pretending they never pushed for it. Suddenly Meriton wants immediate reform to stop substandard buildings. The Urban Taskforce supports Shergold and Weir’s calls for reregulation, clear materials standards and independent certification. The Premier concedes self-regulation has failed and promises a Building Commissioner. Parliament sets up an upper house inquiry.
