Australia’s manufacturing and building sectors are facing rising compliance costs and regulatory complexity due to growing state and territory variations to the National Construction Code (NCC), according to the Building Products Industry Council.
In a statement, BPIC said escalating jurisdiction-specific amendments were undermining the NCC’s intended role as a nationally harmonised regulatory framework and placing additional pressure on manufacturers, builders and product suppliers.
“Although the NCC is intended to operate as a nationally harmonised regulatory framework, states and territories have continued to go their separate ways,” BPIC executive officer Rodger Hills said.
The organisation pointed to differing adoption timelines for NCC 2025 across Australia. Victoria and Tasmania are expected to meet the original projected commencement date of May 1, while some states will adopt the code in 2026 with a 12-month transition period and others in 2027.
BPIC said several jurisdictions had also introduced large numbers of local amendments. Tasmania, which has publicly criticised the NCC, has added 125 new variations to NCC 2025 in addition to 25 existing variations under NCC 2022, according to the council. BPIC said this resulted in more than 150 jurisdiction-specific changes and an additional 53 pages of requirements for practitioners in the state.
The organisation also highlighted New South Wales, where it said state variations had increased from 16 under NCC 2022 to more than 210 under NCC 2025, adding around 70 pages of additional regulation.
“They have also introduced large numbers of jurisdiction-specific amendments, even as they publicly express concern about the complexity of the NCC,” Hills said.
BPIC argued that even where state governments describe variations as changes rather than additional regulation, the practical impact remains increased complexity for industry participants.
“Whether a variation substitutes a clause, a sentence, or just a single word, the effect is the same: greater time spent interpreting the NCC and a higher risk of misinterpretation, uncertainty, and non-compliance,” Hills said.
According to BPIC, the growing number of state-based changes is increasing compliance costs for manufacturers, builders and designers, while also creating barriers for national supply chains and reducing opportunities for economies of scale.
The council also raised concerns about the process used to introduce some variations, stating that many are developed after the NCC public comment draft period, limiting opportunities for industry consultation.
“In effect, they circumvent the normal code development process,” Hills said.
BPIC said it welcomed the Federal Treasury’s NCC Modernisation Project as a step toward improving regulatory clarity and efficiency, but questioned how the initiative would address increasing jurisdictional variations.
“Australia’s manufacturers, builders, and product suppliers rely on a stable, predictable, and harmonised regulatory environment,” Hills said.
“Without effective reform to jurisdictional variation practices, the benefits of a modernised NCC risk being overshadowed by continued regulatory fragmentation.”
The NCC, produced by the Australian Building Codes Board, sets Australia’s technical and performance-based requirements for building design, construction and plumbing standards.
