Today Abigail gave notice of a motion in Parliament calling on the NSW Government to stop dragging its feet and finally sign onto the 2022 National Construction Code’s Livable Housing Design Silver Standards for minimum housing accessibility as a matter of urgency, in light of the Building Better Homes team’s recent report on the status of Victoria’s implementation of the standards.

Abigail said:

I give notice that on the next sitting day I will move: 

(1) That this House notes that:

• the Building Better Homes campaign team released a report entitled Building More, Building Better: Victoria’s Experience with the Livable Housing Design Standard on 19 November 2025, which was produced by YIMBY Melbourne and the Summer Foundation and examines Victoria’s housing supply performance and the implementation of the Livable Housing Design Standard (LHDS) under the 2022 National Construction Code;
• the report found that:
  • Victoria is outperforming every other state on key housing metrics. It is the only jurisdiction on track to meet its housing target, and it builds the most homes both in nominal terms and as a proportion of the total population;  
  • the modest requirements of the LHDS represent a tradeoff: through a few small design and construction requirements, new housing built in Victoria is accessible to a broader majority of the state’s population;
  • Victoria's more permissive planning system, which lacks the restrictive site coverage and floor area ratios common in NSW, allowed it to implement the LHDS without constraining supply;
  • the impact of mandatory LHDS was significantly cushioned because Victoria's planning environment already enacted accessibility principles; state-level policies familiarised the multi-residential sector with accessibility requirements that in many cases exceeded the new LHDS, and several metropolitan councils had already integrated accessibility objectives into their planning schemes for years. Because of this, the LHDS represented more of an incremental change rather than a sudden regulatory shock, nullifying many anticipated transitional costs; 
  • Victoria first implemented an accessibility objective for dwellings in 2006, which was “to encourage the consideration of the needs of people with limited mobility in the design of developments” and was accompanied by the single Standard B25 which stated that “the dwelling entries of the ground floor of dwellings and residential buildings should be accessible or able to be easily made accessible to people with limited mobility”; 
  • in 2017, the Victorian Government implemented the Better Apartment Design Standards (BADS), many of which align with requirements of the LHDS; 
  • several local government areas in Victoria including Knox, Banyule, and Merri-bek had previously integrated accessibility objectives into their planning schemes for years;
  • where Victoria did face challenges with LHDS implementation, those challenges often stemmed from conflicts between different layers of regulation rather than the Standard itself;
  • the introduction of mandatory national LHDS in Victoria has likely reduced regulatory uncertainty by filling a policy vacuum that previously saw local councils attempt to enforce accessibility standards through discretionary permit processes; 
  • Victoria's experience offers a critical lesson for policymakers across Australia: new building standards aimed at creating a more inclusive society can exist alongside increased housing supply;
  • the remaining two states that have not signed onto the LHDS, NSW and WA, should focus on reforming their restrictive planning systems rather than resisting modest improvements to housing accessibility;
  • LHDS costs are marginal when compared to major contributors to high housing costs, and implementing the LHDS would impose a cost of less than $8,000 per dwelling in Sydney; 
  • when states like NSW fail to implement LHDS on the basis of imposed costs, they are making this decision in the context of many other more costly decisions; 
  • the question for policymakers is not whether we can afford to build accessible housing: the questions should focus on which policy levers can be pulled to allow more homes to be built, and for those homes to be livable for as many people as possible.
• while the NSW government has required that all new social housing homes will comply with the LHDS, it is still refusing to sign onto the standards and mandate compliance with the standards for all new home builds; 
• in January 2025, the NSW Building Commissioner released a discussion paper outlining the results from consultation undertaken with various stakeholders on options for the potential adoption of LHDS, however since then the NSW government has maintained it is still reviewing this feedback; 
• in August 2024, the Building Better Homes campaigners sent an open letter to the NSW Premier Chris Minns, Treasurer Daniel Mookhey, Minister for Housing Rose Jackson, Minister for Disability Inclusion Kate Washington and Minister for Building and Better Regulation Anoulack Chanthivong, which said that: 
  • “for the past two years, you, our NSW state leaders, have refused to sign up to the Silver Livable Housing Design Standards mandated in the National Construction Code, a set of design standards that require new housing developments to offer basic accessibility for all people. In this year’s NSW State Budget, you unveiled an ambitious plan to build thousands of new homes, but without a mandatory design standard for new housing development in place people with disability and older people are excluded. These standards are not a lot to ask – they simply require that developers include things like a step free shower and level entry to new homes that are built. If it’s good enough for Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia, the Northern Territory and the ACT, surely it’s good enough for NSW. Together, we – people with disability, older Australians, advocates and allies – call on you to end discriminatory housing in NSW”; and  
• in a Budget Estimates hearing on 7 March 2025, the Minister for Better Regulation insisted that “the Government is leading from the front when it comes to accessibility housing”, and justified the NSW government’s decision to not sign onto the LHDS on the basis that “these are very difficult times for the housing construction sector”.

(2) That this House recognises that:

• people with disability and all those with mobility limitations are facing incredibly difficult times amidst a housing affordability, availability, and accessibility crisis which pose particular and additional risks to older people, people with disability and carers;  
• people with physical access needs who cannot find accessible housing are increasingly being pushed into homelessness, facing incarceration both as a cause and as a result of homelessness, staying in or returning to abusive and unsafe relationships, and being forced to reside in inaccessible and inappropriate accommodation such as boarding houses, homeless shelters, group homes, residential aged care facilities, hospitals and mental health facilities; 
• accessible housing design benefits everyone in our society, ensuring increased independence and autonomy for people with mobility requirements and ensuring everyone can age in place; 
• accessible housing is a fundamental building block to broader social participation for people with disability, including workforce participation; 
• by 2060, it is estimated that over 5 million Australians will have a mobility impairment; 
• three in four people with a mobility impairment currently live in a home that does not meet their needs; and
• both the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation and the NDIS Independent Review recommended states and territories immediately adopt the mandatory standards for all new dwellings, as has the NSW Ageing and Disability Commissioner on numerous occasions.

(3) That this House calls on the NSW Government to stop dragging its feet and finally sign onto the 2022 National Construction Code’s Livable Housing Design Silver Standards for minimum housing accessibility as a matter of urgency. 

26 November 2025