HIA life membership for Wagga's Tony Balding after decades of advocacy in the housing industry

The former chair of the Wagga branch of the Housing Industry Association (HIA), Tony Balding, has been awarded life membership of the organisation in recognition of his years of advocacy in the residential construction industry.

Mr Balding is only the 10th member in the ACT and Southern NSW region to be given the honour and said the announcement at last week’s Riverina Housing Awards was a “complete surprise”.

“It’s something they only give out every 10 years or so and when I look at the people before me on that list, I’ve known three of them, and I certainly don’t hold myself in the same esteem as those gentlemen who worked tirelessly for HIA for many years,” he said.

“I think this award is genuinely a branch award for the efforts that the committee has put in over the last 20 years, largely off the back of all the energy of all the individuals involved and with the great support of the industry in Wagga.”

Mr Balding was a founding member of the Wagga branch in 2004 and served as the inaugural chair of the local committee.

“The single greatest honour that can be conferred on a member of HIA, is election to the status of life member,” said HIA Executive Director ACT & Southern NSW, Greg Weller.

“The conditions of eligibility are onerous, including that the recipient must have given outstanding service for a continuous period of not less than 15 years.

“Tony has been a fearless voice on behalf of in Wagga, driving much of the advocacy at a local and state government level.”

Mr Balding is the owner and director of the Building Supply Company and in his role with HIA has driven advocacy at all levels of government.

“The branch has always batted above the average since its inception and we always took issues locally to much higher levels, getting access at state level and federal levels for local members,” he said.

“In terms of achievements, the towards 100,000 population target was started by the HIA Wagga branch and I think that gave a lot of government agencies a target to aim at.

“Prior to that, there was no real mindset for people to be working in one direction and I think that’s been a big plus that the HIA Wagga branch has given the local community.”

Mr Balding said that many of the issues that were on the agenda in 2004 around land supply, regulation and taxation on houses remained a focus for the organisation.

“I really think we need a bipartisan approach to fix this housing crisis,” he said.

“It needs to be treated like defence in that there’s no argument between the parties and they just get on and find a way forward.”

One initiative that they have been advocating for two decades has been a rethink on the GST on residential properties.

“I don’t think GST should have ever been put on houses, the same as it’s not on health or fresh food, which are three elements of life that we need,” he said.

“When it first was introduced it was around $220,000 for house land package but now it’s a million dollars for a house so now we’re paying $100,000 just in GST, let alone all the other taxes and stamp duty that gets added.

“We came up with a proposal that would see first-time buyers receive their GST payment back over a three-year period through the personal income tax. It’s a move that could make an immediate change to the cost of housing and is one of the few that wouldn’t be inflationary.”

While Mr Balding stepped down as branch chair in 2023, he remains on the committee in the role of secretary and promises to continue to advocate for the industry he loves.