Disability advocates urge Queensland to resist builders’ bid to delay accessible housing rules

Delaying National Construction Code changes to make homes more accessible is ‘just kicking the problem further down the road’, disability groups have told the government of Annastacia Palaszczuk. Photograph: Jozef Polc/Alamy

Disability advocates are urging the Palaszczuk government to hold its nerve amid a campaign from the building sector to delay changes to make Queensland homes more accessible.

In August 2022 all states except New South Wales agreed to implement changes to the National Construction Code to require new homes to meet minimum mandatory standards providing step-free access and corridors wide enough to fit a wheelchair, as well as a range of energy efficiency reforms.