EEC response to Senator Bragg’s National Press Club speech and the Senate Committee on Productivity report
The Energy Efficiency Council (EEC) has today raised serious concerns about proposals flagged in Senator Andrew Bragg’s National Press Club address following the release of the Senate Committee on Productivity’s interim report on housing, warning that making minimum energy efficiency standards in the National Construction Code (NCC) optional would increase household energy bills, undermine productivity, and lock in higher costs for generations of Australians.
EEC CEO, Luke Menzel, said the debate has lost sight of the basic purpose of minimum standards: ensuring homes are built properly in the first place.
“It is 2026. Australians deserve to live in decent housing, not leaky shacks with paper thin walls that cook your kids in summer and freeze them in winter. Minimum energy efficiency standards are not some extraneous bauble – they make sure homes are built properly in the first place so they are safe, comfortable and affordable to run.”
Strong standards deliver cost‑of‑living relief over the lifetime of the building through lower running costs. That means dismantling energy efficiency requirements risks higher energy bills for years to come.
“This proposal is a cost‑of‑living time bomb. Energy efficiency standards drive down energy bills. Ripping efficiency standards up means higher energy bills for years to come. I never thought I’d see an Australian politician out and about advocating for higher energy bills, but here we are.”
Statements by Senator Bragg and Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson suggesting that the NCC imposes identical requirements across vastly different climates suggest a misunderstanding of how the NCC works.
“The idea that WA and Tassie are forced to meet the same requirements under the NCC just isn’t the case. It contains eight different climate zones and the NatHERS compliance path recognises 69 different climate zones.
The Code is designed to take account of these regional differences – the rules adapt depending on where you are,” he said.
Mr Menzel said that any serious examination of boosting economic productivity should prioritise strong, consistent energy efficiency in Australia’s buildings.
“Energy efficiency is one of Australia’s most powerful productivity levers. It reduces waste, cuts energy bills, improves comfort and health, and frees up household and business budgets for more productive uses. Weakening standards would do the opposite.”
The EEC supports several of the ideas raised in the Senate Committee’s interim report, including work to streamline the NCC to improve its useability, support for innovations like modern methods of construction that would boost energy efficiency, as well as the proposed national pattern books.
However, moves to make the NCC’s energy efficiency provisions optional risk undermining the certainty that industry needs to deliver homes at least cost.
“The whole point of the NCC is to stop every state and territory making up their own rules. A standardised approach across the country lowers compliance costs for industry, which drives down costs for home buyers. Unless every state and territory is on board with this idea – which seems like a stretch – we’ll end up with multiple, divergent codes across the country, and homes that are both more expensive to build and less efficient,” Mr Menzel said.
The EEC is calling on all parliamentarians to reject proposals that would weaken the NCC and instead focus on reforms that strengthen Australia’s productivity, resilience and cost‑of‑living outcomes.
Media contact:
info@eec.org.au
