Across the country, the Institute is advocating for the things that matter to you and your practice.
Here’s a snapshot of what we’ve been up to in the past month, and what’s going on more broadly that’s relevant.
As always, we thank our members for their expert contributions towards our policy and advocacy – helping us understand what’s important, highlighting emerging issues, and providing the much-needed subject matter expertise that underpins our work. Advancing architecture together requires all of us to be advocates for the profession.
MEDIA
For good or for bad, the National Construction Code has been in the news with comments from the Opposition proposing to drastically simplify the Code.
For us, it was an opportunity to make sure our view was heard – that we do support much-needed simplification and modernisation of the Code but not in the wholesale “slashing” that’s been proposed, especially not at the expense of much-needed requirements around things like energy efficiency and accessibility.
Read our statement here | See our comments in the ABC
The Institute’s First Nations Advisory Committee released an incredible, free resource called Walk Together: Design Guided by Country, which supports architects and built environment professionals to engage meaningfully with First Nations People and Country in their projects.
Read our media release and see some of the coverage (The Fifth Estate | Australian Design Review | National Indigenous Times | ArchitectureAu)
PARLIAMENT AND GOVERNMENT
With the NSW Building Bill now law, we did a deep dive on what it actually means for our members and for the profession (including what we’ll be advocating for in the development of the accompanying regulations) – read the explainer piece here.
We’ve made a supplementary submission to the Senate inquiry into AI and data centres (following our original submission in June) – this one doing a deeper dive into the opportunities and risks that AI brings for both the profession and the built environment. We’re just waiting on the submission to be accepted by the Seante committee and published, and will further promote it then.
On the housing front:
- We’re gathering member feedback to respond in detail to the Productivity Commission’s interim report into the regulation of housing supply – key issues including design quality, heritage and housing delivery outcomes,
- Preparing a submission to the Senate inquiry into social housing and seeking member input on barriers, opportunities and reforms to improve social housing outcomes, and
- Encouraging feedback from anyone involved in residential construction to the Productivity Commission’s survey – open until 30 September.
We’ve also been continuing our ongoing government engagement including meeting with Minister Catherine King’s office to discuss infrastructure policy, and reaching out to the new Housing Australia chair to acknowledge the release of the Housing Australia Capability Assessment Report and offer our support for delivery capability, governance and coordination.
CAPACITY BUILDING AND INSTITUTE INITIATIVES
The Outline of Services document, developed by the Institute’s Outline of Services Working Group in consultation with our whole membership, has now been published. It is an excellent resource to promote informed, transparent discussions about how architects add value to a project – and will be an opportunity for us in the coming months to more broadly communicate the value of architects and the profession.
National Council, the Institute’s chief policy and advocacy advisory body, met in Melbourne on 17-18 August. They discussed a number of key advocacy initiatives and issues that will inform the Institute’s work going forward.
We’ve launched a new advocacy landing page on our website, which aims to make it clearer about what we’re advocating for and how. Stay tuned for more updates!
ADVOCACY IN NUMBERS
Advocacy impact in 2026: More than 116 submissions and expert pieces of advice have been provided to governments, alongside more than 135 meetings with ministers, departments and agencies.
QUESTIONS?
The Policy & Advocacy team are based across Melbourne, Adelaide and Canberra and work closely with National Council and the National President to advocate for key issues affecting the built environment and our members. We work closely with all Chapter Executive Leaders, their Presidents and Chapter Councils to ensure our advocacy is timely, actionable and responsive to local needs.
Reach out to Sarah, Jane or Tim with any questions at any time: [email protected]