Garima Sinha
The passing of the previously delayed Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) means that all the Albanese government’s announced housing policies are now in place. These policies represent a minimum funding pool of $5.5 billion stretching to the end of the decade, potentially lifting as high as $10 billion if all targets are met and excess fund returns achieved.
Negative momentum for total building in FY2023 (-8%) is expected to continue in FY2024, with activity sliding a further 11% to $108.4 billion (constant FY2021 prices). The uplift in build costs and a large backlog of work that is proving difficult to draw down are amplifying the demand drag of higher borrowing costs. Delays and builder administrations are further supressing home buyer confidence.
The National Transport Commission (NTC) and the Australasian Railway Association (ARA) commissioned Oxford Economics Australia to update and extend quantitative rail workforce capability modelling last completed in 2018 and published in the ARA’s report. Fundamentally, this report
seeks to explain how skills demand will form for the rail industry over the coming decade, what will be
the key threats to workforce capability, and what industry and governments can do to respond to meet the challenges of delivering on the significant rail infrastructure investment.