Master Builders Victoria is taking its key election priorities to the steps of Parliament House this year as part of its strategy for the upcoming Victorian state election on 24 November.

Read our election priorities here.

We are summarising the positions of the Labor, Liberal and Greens parties on a range of important building industry issues.

 “The issues we have identified reflect policy positions developed by Master Builders over time,” CEO Radley de Silva says. “We are seeking direct answers from the candidates.”

“This way, we can develop an extensive view of the current policy positions of each party and share them with our members and the general public,” Mr de Silva says. “Beyond that, it can prompt the parties to think about issues important to our members and keep those issues top of mind for the election.”

Master Builders is featured in an article in the Herald Sun, focusing on our call for resolution of planning issues with local councils, rising construction costs and skills shortages, among other priorities.

The approach Master Builders is taking is to engage with the parties rather than deliver a traditional laundry list of pre-election demands.

“Our policies are often well known to the parties because of our ongoing advocacy and engagement programme,” Mr de Silva says. “What we will learn from this process is how they are thinking about the building industry over an extensive range of matters.”

“The election brings risks and opportunities for the building and construction industry. Legislation introduced into Parliament recently for trades registration, on the back of more than 10 years of lobbying by Master Builders, is welcome, but has long way to go in terms of cost-benefit analysis. The employee licensing proposal in that legislation is unprecedented in Australia and raises concerns around practicality and cost.”

“We will strongly resist, on behalf of members, the introduction of any industrial manslaughter or wage-theft laws,” he says.

Housing affordability is another issue we know the parties claim to be passionate about in this election with both Liberal and Labor parties already releasing comprehensive housing policies, but the lack of clear ways to address local councils’ planning delays is a significant concern for our industry.”

“We are calling for better decision-making processes for councils, especially because of the increasing number and complexity of planning applications they face. Councils also need to be given incentives to act efficiently and effectively.”

“As building activity booms, Victoria is faced with an ever-increasing demand for skills in our industry, so attracting and retaining people with those skills is essential. This underscores the importance of the role of industry RTOs and the need for supporting them.”