Livable Housing Launch
NEIL MITCHELL:
The housing industry is about to sign up to guidelines to make houses more, I don’t know, livable, I suppose, more usable for everybody.
Interesting ideas behind it and one of the people involved in it is the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities, Mr Bill Shorten. Good morning.
BILL SHORTEN:
Good morning, Neil.
NEIL MITCHELL:
What are you going to do?
BILL SHORTEN:
Well, it’s come to my attention, being the disability spokesperson that a lot of people – more than perhaps the population initially realises – have a mobility impairment and that a lot of the houses that people live in haven’t been built with the idea that maybe one day you might need a wheelchair or that you might have difficulty getting over the lift in the shower or that, you know, it’s a good idea to have a bathroom on the ground floor or an entrance from the carport to the entrance of the house which is at the same level.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Yeah.
BILL SHORTEN:
These – and we take our mobility for granted, but our house is probably our most important investment we make. Most of us either will plan to sell our house or live in our house for a long time. Either way, having a house which is liveable and accessible for others will increase the value of your house or indeed make it possible for us when unexpected events occur in your life to be able to stay in your house rather than have to move and go elsewhere.
NEIL MITCHELL:
So under this system, what, will the building industry – the housing industry be required to follow these guidelines or will they be voluntary. What will they do?
BILL SHORTEN:
Well when – the previous government, the Howard Government spent eight years debating about access to public buildings and our own government had spent two years and we’ve wrapped up those negotiations, but something shouldn’t take 10 years to resolve, so I invited a range of the leaders of the housing industry, the Master Builders, the architects, the Property Council, the Real Estate Institute, seniors, the disability groups to get together and with no strings attached, people sit down and say, all right, on one hand we don’t want to be fitted up with mandatory rules which are in – costly and inappropriate. On the other hand, we should start thinking about how we design houses to reflect the diverse population of Australia.
I mean anyone who’s ever tried to sell a house with steps knows that a whole lot of older people just are not as interested in buying houses with steps which are inaccessible, so there’s a consumer benefit both for people and for the value of houses here and we’ve managed to work out a voluntary standard and I’ve worked with all the leaders, and there’s Grocon and Lend Lease and Stockland as well.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Yeah.
BILL SHORTEN:
We’ve managed to work out a set of standards which everyone can say, well this is where we want to be by 2020 and plenty of milestones in between now and then.
NEIL MITCHELL:
And what are the key things? I mean you’re talking about…
BILL SHORTEN:
Oh, we’re…
NEIL MITCHELL:
… wider doors or that sort of thing?
BILL SHORTEN:
Yeah, when people think about houses, which are more accessible, sometimes people tend to think of hospital wards, and giant bathrooms and disabled toilets. That’s not what we’re talking about.
What we’re talking about is what you’ve said, it’s – Moses, when he came down from Mount Sinai didn’t have as the 11th Commandment, they’ll shalt have a door which is only 700 millimetres wide.
NEIL MITCHELL:
[Laughs]
BILL SHORTEN:
What’s been proposed – we’re rating all houses, and we got some free advice from the advertising people. What we’re proposing here is three standards: a silver standard, a gold standard and a platinum standard.
For a silver standard, and the aim is that we have all new houses in Australia by 2020 built to a silver standard, you’d have wider doors, about 850 millimetres width, not 700 millimetres.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Yeah.
BILL SHORTEN:
You’d have a toilet on the ground floor. You’d also try and ensure that there was an entrance, which was level, between the car and the house. You’d also try and secure just a – you – when you build a new bathroom, you’d put some reinforced walls in the bathroom, so that at a future point, a prospective owner could easily attach hand rails.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Oh look, I think it’s terrific to do these sort of things, provided it’s not going to add a lot to the cost. Because there’s an enormous amount of regulation anybody building a house now.
BILL SHORTEN:
Mmm, absolutely.
NEIL MITCHELL:
You know, there are all sorts of things you’ve got to do, which inevitably adds to the cost. Would these sort of things make it more expensive?
BILL SHORTEN:
Well, that – I’m very mindful of cost pressures on people, and the last thing you want to do – I want to make houses more accessible to people, so you don’t want to inadvertently prevent that by making houses less affordable.
There’s probably two quick answers though to the issue of cost. We’ve got all the experts in the industry in the room. There’s been no kicking, and screaming and dragging and litigation. And you could – welcome to speak to anyone, you know. And the architects, and the Property Council and the housing industry, the Master Builders do know what they’re doing and the big builders. They say the cost will be negligible. They like the idea it’s voluntary, they like the idea of encouraging both the industry to train up on the skills. They like the idea of educating the market. They like the idea of being able to sell houses to more people.
NEIL MITCHELL:
Okay.
BILL SHORTEN:
The other thing is, it should be said, that a lot of houses already being built this way anyway.
NEIL MITCHELL:
All right. Okay, well look, thanks for talking to us.