Industry Update

As the saying goes, “what doesn’t kill us, can only make us stronger”.

To be honest, I don’t think our North Queensland community could have anything else thrown at us. Yet in the face of it all, we stand tall and resilient as we continue to work hard and get on with job at hand. The building and construction industry is coming off a low base and a sluggish economy but is now gaining some long-awaited momentum. If we can take away any silver-lining from the heartache and devastation of the February flood, this would have to be it. 

Although flood reconstruction works will not be reflected in our regional approvals, our local guys will find reprieve from years of just surviving. And hopefully, this will then lead to employment opportunities, a growth in apprenticeships and an injection of confidence in our great region. Of course, it’s important to know that this work will be a “sugar-hit” for our city and we will still need to prepare to diversify our businesses when the time comes.

The federal election is now over and as a nation we have a direction. Commentary from the local industry by both builders and developers post-election has been positive. We are seeing increased activity and confidence which is refreshing, and the results over the coming months will start
to show.

On writing this article, we are a few weeks away from the 2019-20 State Budget and by the time this is in print, we will know what has been delivered. I think it’s important to mention Master Builders recommendations to the Queensland Government ahead of the budget. We urged government to do more to ensure the building and construction industry can continue its role as the cornerstone of the Queensland economy and to address the drop in demand for new housing. One of our key recommendations was to return the Boost to the First Home Owner’s Grant in regional Queensland after it ended on 30 June, 2018.

It might seem logical to dismiss the return of the Boost now that the federal government is promising to deliver loan assistance to first home owner, but in our view, now is the perfect time to give regional Queensland first home buyers an additional leg up.

So, as you are reading this article, I hope the state government has taken heed of our recommendations and regional Queensland – especially Townsville – is getting set to prosper for many, many years to come.