SACOSS together with ACOSS and other councils of social service, in a coalition of 23 not-for-profit community organisations, has spoken out in support of 7-star rated homes with solar as a national minimum building standard.
The coalition of community groups has joined forces urging Australian Government ministers to support the improvement of energy performance standards in the 2022 National Construction Code (NCC) in a joint statement. Signatories include major peak bodies and organisations across the social services, tenancy, community, and environmental sectors.
All Australians should be able to live in a safe and healthy home that is low cost to run. But too many homes are being built that leave people paying too high energy bills and exposed to heatwaves and winter cold. They do not meet community expectations. The letter signatories strongly support the commitment of Australian state, territory and Commonwealth governments to set a minimum 7-star NatHERS rating for new homes and introduce renewable energy requirements when the National Construction Code (NCC) is updated in 2022.
Alongside improvements to existing homes, raising new home standards is an important measure to improve the energy performance of homes, improve health and wellbeing outcomes, improve social equity, improve resilience of the energy system and provide low-cost emissions reductions. We call on governments to commit to the introduction of minimum 7-star new home standards and renewable energy requirements in the National Construction Code with no further delay
The joint statement was sent to all state, territory and Commonwealth Ministers with responsibility for building, construction, and energy portfolios in advance of a key meeting of the nation’s Building Ministers at the Building Ministers’ Forum.
Download: Joint statement on new home standards