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The peak body for urban developers says it's taking Queensland members twice as long to build residential apartment complexes as before COVID-19 due to a "constructability crisis" that's contributing to housing issues.
Kirsty Chessher-Brown from Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) welcomed the new LNP government's suspension of the 2019 Best Practice Industry Conditions (BPIC) agreement, which it dubbed the "CFMEU tax".
The agreement applied a special set of conditions for workers on projects worth more than $100 million.
Ms Chessher-Brown acknowledged there were a range of factors at play but called for a "reset" of workforce productivity.
"It is very much affecting the delivery of residential apartments right across the state, resulting in a large number of those apartment buildings being cancelled, or at least mothballed," she said.
The LNP government has claimed productivity on some BPIC projects is less than 60 per cent.
On Friday Ms Chessher-Brown stood beside new Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie and the Property Council's Jess Caire near the Centenary Bridge on Brisbane's south side, which is a $298 million BPIC project.
Ms Caire said the economic burden of the agreement was being worn by Queenslanders.
"We welcome this announcement and we look forward to getting the outcome from the Queensland Productivity Commission which we can understand the broader impact on industry," Ms Caire said.
"Ultimately the economic flow and impact of BPIC is borne by Queenslanders and at a time where we need to deliver more critical infrastructure than ever and we need to deliver more homes so we can address our housing crisis.
Jess Caire says Queensland needs to make sure it is taking all possible measures ito increase productivity. (ABC News)
"We need to make sure we are taking all appropriate measures to increase productivity so we can get more homes and more projects delivered."
Mr Bleijie continued to criticise the agreement, which applied to some projects in 2018 but was formalised under the Palaszczuk Labor government in 2020.
He said businesses that had not signed up to BPIC had not received government contracts, and that he had referred allegations of bullying and intimidation tactics to the CCC and police.
Major government contractor Scott Hutchinson, of Hutchinson Builders, said there was more at play in the construction crisis.
"It's the demand that's driving it, the Gold Coast went crazy, all the developers had jobs ready to go as soon as COVID ended, everybody built everything at once and it blew up," he said.
Scott Hutchinson says their are many factors at play, with BPIC only a small part of it. (ABC Radio Brisbane: Kenji Sato)
"The RBA pumped too much money into the system during COVID, when COVID ended there was an explosion of building work.
"That meant all our larger sub-contractors went broke, so that's what's really caused it.
"When the market is overheated like this, everybody is employed and a good team will do twice as much as a bad team and that's what happened. The teams blew up and they're rebuilding them now. That's what's caused productivity to go down and prices to go up, but BPIC will have a small effect but it's not the major driver."
BPIC sets out the pay and conditions for construction union workers. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
The opposition called on the new government to be up-front with Queenslanders about how the suspension will affect the project pipeline.
"The LNP are cutting the wages of tradies — something they said they wouldn't do before the election," a spokesperson said.
"And Jarrod Bleijie needs to be up-front with Queenslanders on how these changes will impact the delivery of major projects, including the three new hospitals in Bundaberg, Coomera and Toowoomba.
"Every day that the LNP delay signing major construction contracts increases the risk of cost increases and cuts."