Building grants maladministration and a frenzy for new homes and extensions causes financial pain and delays for Western Australian families.
In 2020 the Federal Government put out a building stimulus grants package without checking that there were sufficient qualified trades and building materials to supply the housing market in Western Australia. The State Government then added another grants package to exacerbate the problem without a proper building inspection service to check the quality of the work and the conditions of the contract to meet community standards and expectations.
Both Governments ignored advice from the building industry and imposed deadlines that would be impossible to meet due to supply issues, insufficient qualified trades and fixed price contracts which would either send the builder broke or costly overruns and defective homes to be built. The Government went ahead anyway, knowing the Black Summer bush fires had destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of softwood plantations and the price of steel frames had been rising, making fixed price quotes and orderly planning of building impossible to meet.
Building grants maladministration is the perfect storm caused by both Governments yet homeowners are expected to pay price hikes or put up with building defects cause by a shortage of building materials and unqualified trades.
The Policy Solution
The community is calling on the Federal and State Government to introduce a fully funded compensation scheme to be attached to the Grant scheme to compensate homeowners affected by the maladministration of this policymaking on the run. Both governments are responsible for this mess.
The Western Australia Party supports this policy initiative and will take it to the Federal Election in May 2022.