Today, I convened a further roundtable with industry leaders from the building and construction sector to discuss how supply chain disruptions from the Middle East conflict are affecting housing supply and construction costs.
Representatives attended from the housing, construction, property development, plumbing, building materials (including cement, concrete, bricks and forestry products), chemicals and plastics, civil contracting, and transport and logistics industries. Representatives also attended from the Department of Treasury and the Department of Industry, Science and Resources.
The construction sector is made up of resilient, innovative businesses that have built strong foundations to meet these challenges.
New ABS data released yesterday shows building approvals have reached their highest level in more than four years - providing strong foundations for the construction sector to respond to significant global economic headwinds.
This builds on earlier positive data prior to the conflict, including construction cost inflation falling from 17.3 per cent per year when Labor came to government to 1.8 per cent per year in the December quarter 2025.
While higher approvals and improved construction cost inflation are an important step forward, the Albanese Government is working closely with the building and construction sector to navigate new supply chain disruptions.
Industry leaders continued to raise concerns about the impacts of escalating construction costs, especially on small businesses with fixed price contracts.
Where supply chains are disrupted - including for PVC plastics and other materials - many in industry are innovating and finding alternative sources.
Industry have identified opportunities for closer collaboration with government to support these efforts, particularly for small businesses that may face greater challenges accessing new supply chains.
We will continue to work with industry to monitor price pressures and supply chain disruptions, with our focus remaining on supporting our builders to deliver the homes Australians need, even in a more uncertain global environment.
I will meet with construction union leaders next week to further explore the challenges impacting workers.
The Government is acting on these challenges. While we cannot control when this conflict in the Middle East will end, we can determine how we respond here in Australia.
National Cabinet has agreed to a National Fuel Security Plan to coordinate a consistent response across the Commonwealth, states and territories. This response on fuel supply includes:
- Halving of the fuel excise for diesel and petrol for three months and reaching an agreement with the states and territories to return GST windfall to Australians, meaning a total reduction of 32c per litre
- Cutting the Heavy Vehicle Road User Charge to zero for three months
- Passing new laws to double penalties for petrol companies for price gouging
- Appointing a national Fuel Supply Taskforce Coordinator
- Releasing 20 per cent of Australia's fuel reserves, targeted at regional areas
- Temporarily changing petrol and diesel standards to get more fuel flowing
- Changing diesel standards so Australia's refineries can supply more diesel
- Tasked the ACCC to ramp up fuel price monitoring and issue on‑the‑spot fines
- Making it easier for Australia's refineries to access government funding when they run at a loss
- Engaging with international partners to keep supply flowing
- Unlocking $2 million in financial counselling funding for impacted farmers
We are also working with the business and finance sectors to help ease the pressure on Australian families and businesses. This includes new measures in the tax system to give people more flexibility and help small business access credit.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Housing, Homelessness and Cities, Clare O'Neil MP
"Today, I again met with a large group of business leaders to discuss the housing supply chain disruptions arising from the Middle East conflict.
"Industry has built strong foundations to respond to this crisis and is already showing the innovation and resilience needed to work through it - with government backing these efforts through initiatives like the National Fuel Security Plan and more flexibility in the tax system."
