On Tuesday morning, a Rally for Construction Reform will take place outside the ACT Legislative Assembly, calling for urgent changes to the building industry’s regulatory processes.

The rally’s organiser, builder Xavier Duffy, argues that an inefficient approval system delays projects, increases costs, and creates uncertainty for builders and homeowners.

“The approval delays are affecting people in a much bigger way than I was anticipating,” Mr Duffy said. “There’s so much inefficiency, and no one seems to be talking about this loud enough. I want to make a change.”

His petition (hosted on the ACT Legislative Assembly website) wants the government to “fix the ACT’s broken construction approval system”. According to Mr Duffy:

• The government’s regulatory overhang causes serious problems for the building industry.
• Building approvals consume 30 per cent of a project’s total budget, making projects financially unsustainable.
• ACT Building Certifiers are overworked, delaying projects.
• Bureaucracy frustrates builders, public servants and the public, and inflates construction costs.
• The Tree Protection Unit takes seven weeks to approve even minor impacts to tree covers.
• New pool fencing standards are confusing, and there is little guidance for compliance.

The petition urges the Assembly to consult the building industry to reduce regulatory burdens; to freeze changes to the National Construction Code in the ACT for five years; to allow licensed builders to certify pool fencing; to require referral entities to provide timely advice on approvals; and to automatically approve if not processed within statutory timeframes.

The petition closes on Monday. More than 330 people have signed it so far, short of the 500 needed to refer it to an Assembly committee.

Its sponsor, Canberra Liberals MLA Mark Parton, said: “There’s not much time left to sign this petition. It’s so bureaucratically difficult to build anything in the ACT, and it’s dramatically adding to our growing housing unaffordability.”

The ACT Greens are also understood to be concerned about the drop in Development Application approvals, new home builds, and the lack of missing middle housing, public and social housing during a housing crisis.

According to the Master Builders Association of the ACT, the time to build a home in the ACT has doubled since 2010, from just over 7.5 months to more than 14 months — the third highest completion time in Australia after WA and SA. This figure does not include the waiting time for build approvals, which exceed the ACT government’s stated six-to-eight-week target by months. No large developments like apartment complexes are being approved within the 60-day statutory timeframe; the median approval time is now 117 working days. Duplex approvals take up to 30 months, and larger projects blow out by more than 100 days.

“The pain points being raised at the rally are absolutely shared across the ACT building and construction sector: delays, bureaucracy, lack of responses and unclear direction are all common occurrences,” MBA ACT CEO Anna Neelagama said.

“Once more, this is a wake-up call for the ACT Government to improve customer service and make some practical changes to ensure those processing planning approvals across all agencies — planning, heritage, trees, traffic and utilities — work together and deliver for Canberrans.

“We are in the middle of a housing supply and affordability crisis where the answer simply cannot be more of the same. In order to improve housing affordability for Canberrans, planning wait times must be overhauled.”

Maria Edwards, CEO of the Real Estate Institute of the ACT (REIACT), said the cost and complexity of construction limited the supply of freestanding homes in the ACT.

“Any regulatory reform to streamline the process to be more efficient and affordable should be a priority. With cost-savings and more certainty from improved regulation, builders will be empowered to deliver their projects on time and budget, the real winners being the families and first home buyers when the keys are handed over.”

The rally will take place at 8am. Construction industry leaders, union representatives, safety advocates, and workers are expected to attend. Mr. Duffy invited industry professionals and affected homeowners to attend.

“Meaningful reform starts with real conversations followed by real action. We need the ACT Government to work with us, the industry, to create a system that is efficient, fair, and practical for everyone,” Mr Duffy said.

The ACT Government was asked for comment.