Australia needs to build more homes. Fast.
But the way we build today is slower, more wasteful, and more unreliable than it needs to be. Projects blow out. Costs spiral. Defects proliferate.
Prefabricated housing (or Modern Methods of Construction) offers new capacity for construction: speed, certainty, and control.Homes can be built in months, not years—with fewer delays, higher quality, and more consistency.
And AMPLIFY is campaigning to make prefab part of the national solution.
Why Prefab? Because Australia’s Out of Time
Governments have promised to build 1.2 million homes by 2029. But we’re falling short—by tens of thousands each year. One major reason? The way we build has barely changed in decades. By demanding bespoke homes, we’ve locked ourselves into a home-by-home approach to building. In today’s world, this is slow, fragmented, and costly.
Prefab flips the model—shifting work offsite to different degrees into modern factories where whole or part homes are manufactured quickly, safely, and at scale, without losing quality or the ability to customise and make one's home their own.
It’s not radical. It’s just being smart with existing know-how, like digital technology and automated manufacturing processes. And no, you don't have to have a factory.
In AMPLIFY’s National AMPLIFICATION on Housing, a mega majority backed unlocking more prefabricated housing.
Australians see the need to take advantage of faster, fairer ways to build. But the system keeps dragging behind—held back by:
- Outdated rules
- Insufficient scale
- Skills gaps
- Inflexible finance
- Industry myths
- And a lack of political urgency
That’s why we’re campaigning for change.
What We’re Calling For
Governments should catalyse growth by:
- Seeding the pipeline;
- Modernising regulations; and
- Mobilising skills.
This Isn’t The Future. It’s Catch Up.
Globally, countries like Sweden, Singapore, and Japan are already building faster, better quality homes through prefab. New Zealand is also reforming to make this happen.
Australia can do the same—if we get regulation right, grow the skills base, and seed scale and innovation.
Prefab isn’t just about speed. It’s about certainty, quality, and sustainability. Less waste. Higher quality. More homes where people need them.
Taking the Mandate to Government
The community has spoken. Australians want Fab, Fast & Fair housing, and they want governments to act. Through our National AMPLIFICATION on Housing, everyday people shaped a clear, community-backed agenda. Now, we are turning that into action, working with Federal, State and Territory leaders to push for the bold reforms this moment demands.
We’re putting the call for modern housing front and centre.
In South Australia, the AMPLIFY community’s call was heard. Just 100 days after our National AMPLIFICATION on Housing, the State Government announced plans to build 120 new prefab homes, positioning South Australia as a national leader in modern construction. We brought community voices directly to Premier Malinauskas, Housing Minister Nick Champion and senior officials, helping shape a serious commitment to prefab and the workforce needed to deliver it.
Read the South Australia roundtable takeaways here
In Victoria, we made a detailed submission to the Government’s consultation on Modern Methods of Construction, calling for urgent reform to unlock prefab housing. The submission sets out clear actions: modernise outdated regulations, seed a steady pipeline of modern homes, and mobilise the next generation of skilled workers.
Read our Victorian submission here
In Queensland, we submitted to the Productivity Commission’s review of construction sector productivity, urging the Government to embed modern construction as a central part of its housing and economic strategy. Our submission reflects overwhelming public support and includes practical steps Queensland can take to lead on prefab.
Read the Queensland submission here
In our submission to the Australian Building Codes Board, we called for bold national reforms to modernise housing regulation. We urged the ABCB to harmonise building codes across jurisdictions, fast-track consistent definitions and the certification scheme for modern housing, establish a regulatory task force to cut duplication and delays, and strengthen industry engagement to build awareness and uptake.
Read our submission to the ABCB here
We also took Fab, Fast, and Fair Housing to the Productivity Commission as a key solution to boosting Australia’s economic resilience and uplifting productivity levels across a range of industries. Highlighting the national appetite for greater housing choice, we urged the Commission to step up efforts to modernise building, planning, and consumer protection for modern homes.
Read our submission to the Productivity Commission
Let’s Build Smarter—Together
The housing crisis won’t fix itself. But together, we can shift the system.
AMPLIFY is building pressure from the ground up—community voices, backed by evidence, pushing for bold reform.
Prefab is fab, fast, and fair. Let’s make it happen.
.webp)