A $12.8 million package aims to land about 20 million imported bricks in six months, weighted toward smaller builders. Not all of the headline figure is cash, and the details that decide who benefits are not yet public.
Western Australia will pay importers up to 50 cents a brick to bring bricks into the state over the next six months. It is the centrepiece of a $12.8 million package the state government announced on Tuesday.
The freight subsidy is worth $7.5 million and targets about 20 million bricks. Small and medium builders get the bigger rebate. Large builders get half as much per brick.
For a builder on allocation, the size of the package is not the test. The test is whether subsidised bricks reach site before the margin on a fixed price job is gone.
The $12.8 million is three different things
The package has three parts, according to the government. The largest is the $7.5 million freight subsidy. The second is a state guarantee of up to $5 million in revolving credit facilities, provided by commercial financiers to small and medium builders. The third is support for the interest on those facilities, which the government estimates at $300,000.
Those parts do not behave the same way. The freight subsidy is money paid against each brick. A guarantee is a promise to cover a lender if a borrower does not repay, so what the state actually spends on that part depends on how the facilities perform.
The government says the credit facilities are there to help builders with the upfront cost of importing bricks. That goes straight to builder cash flow. An imported pallet is paid for well before it is laid, and long before the progress claim that recovers it.
Two thirds of the freight money is set aside for smaller builders
The subsidy runs on two tiers. Small and medium builders get a rebate of 50 cents a brick on 10 million bricks. Large builders get 25 cents a brick on up to 10 million bricks.
On those rates, $5 million of the $7.5 million is reserved for small and medium builders, and $2.5 million for large builders.
The weighting follows where the pressure has landed. When Midland Brick began phasing in allocation from 1 October, a volume builder could move supply between dozens of sites while a builder with four jobs had few moves left, as we found when we looked at how brick allocation hits small firms.
Master Builders Western Australia said the package followed months of advocacy for its members, particularly the small and medium builders it described as hardest hit. Chief executive Matt Moran said the next six months had to stay focused on getting bricks into builders’ hands, and that the measures needed to be rolled out quickly and effectively.
The announcement does not say where the line between a medium and a large builder will be drawn.
The rebate targets the brick nobody picks from a sample board
The subsidy will focus on two course utility bricks, which the government says face the highest demand. These are the structural bricks inside a double brick wall, not the face brick a client chooses.
That fits the shape of the shortage. It also fits the timetable. The government expects the restart of the Cardup brickworks to bring Austral’s plant back online by March 2027, adding around 17 million bricks a year and lifting state production by about 10 to 15 per cent.
Set side by side, the import target is bigger than the plant. The freight subsidy aims to bring in about 20 million bricks over six months. Cardup is expected to make about 17 million in a full year.
Midland Brick is also lifting capacity at its South Guildford and Middle Swan operations, the government said when it announced the Cardup deal. Of all the measures on the table, the import program is the one designed to land first.
For the next six months, WA’s extra brick supply is a shipping problem, not a kiln problem.
Imported bricks were already arriving before the subsidy
Imports are not new. Perth business Sharp Bricklaying wrote in October that builders, brick carters and bricklayers were already bringing in stock from South Australia, India, Malaysia and China, including two course bricks, with some trying to lock in supply for years ahead.
For the next six months, WA’s extra brick supply is a shipping problem, not a kiln problem.
What the subsidy changes is the price gap. The government says bricks from interstate and overseas cost more than locally produced bricks, and the rebate is meant to make moving them commercially viable.
It puts the saving at roughly $2,500 to $5,000 for an average double brick home. On the two rebate rates, both ends of that range work out to about 10,000 subsidised bricks a home.
The government frames that saving as a cost builders would otherwise wear on fixed price contracts. For a builder who priced a double brick job before allocation began, that is the margin the subsidy is trying to protect.
Three conditions sit between the rebate and the builder
The subsidy will run through an approved list of importers, not through builders directly. Importers on the list must show the rebate is passed through to builders in full, and that the bricks meet Australian standards.
Definition: the WA brick freight subsidy
A $7.5 million rebate paid through approved importers on about 20 million bricks brought into Western Australia over six months. It pays 50 cents a brick on 10 million bricks for small and medium builders and 25 cents a brick on up to 10 million bricks for large builders, focused on two course utility bricks. Importers must pass the rebate to builders in full and show the bricks meet Australian standards.
The Small Business Development Corporation will deliver the package, supported by the Housing Supply Unit in the Department of Treasury and Finance. The government says it was designed with industry bodies including Master Builders Western Australia.
The announcement does not name the approved importers, say when the rebate starts, or set out how pass through will be checked. Nor does it name the commercial financiers behind the credit facilities, or the terms a builder would borrow on. Those details will decide how quickly 20 million bricks become laid courses.
Why a WA brick shortage behaves differently
About 70 per cent of homes built in Western Australia are double brick, the government says, against 2 to 11 per cent in other states and territories. Elsewhere, brick mostly sits on the outside of a frame. In WA it carries the structure.
Demand has climbed hard. Building commencements in WA reached 25,505 homes in the 2025 to 2026 financial year, according to the government, up 90 per cent on the 2023 calendar year low of 13,433.
That combination is why a squeeze at one major producer has turned into a state funded freight program. For builders in other states, it is a live example of how fast a concentrated materials market tightens when demand surges, one of the pressures behind national construction industry trends.
The Good Builder Take
The freight subsidy buys time, not capacity. It is sized to bridge the gap until Cardup comes back, and it leans toward the builders allocation hurts most.
The weighting is the right instinct. But a rebate paid to importers only matters if the full 50 cents shows up on a small builder’s invoice, and the announcement leaves open who is on the list, when it starts and how that is checked.
Until those details land, the package is a promise of cheaper imported bricks, not a pallet on site.
Frequently asked questions
It is a $7.5 million program to support the import of about 20 million bricks into Western Australia over six months. Small and medium builders get a rebate of 50 cents a brick on 10 million bricks, and large builders get 25 cents a brick on up to 10 million bricks. It is paid through approved importers who must pass the rebate to builders in full.
The state government estimates savings of about $2,500 to $5,000 for an average double brick home, a cost it says builders on fixed price contracts would otherwise carry.
Through importers on an approved list. The Small Business Development Corporation will deliver the package. The announcement does not name the importers or set a start date.
The government expects the Austral Bricks plant at Cardup to be online by March 2027, producing around 17 million bricks a year and lifting state brick production by about 10 to 15 per cent.
The state will guarantee up to $5 million in revolving credit facilities from commercial financiers for small and medium builders, and support the interest costs, estimated at $300,000. The facilities are meant to help with the upfront cost of importing bricks.
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Last updated: 11 November 2026. Figures are drawn from Western Australian Government statements.
General information only. This article provides general information about industry developments and is not legal, financial or business advice. It does not take into account the circumstances of any particular business. Program details, eligibility and timing are set by the Western Australian Government and its agencies and may change.
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