Fewer projects, higher compliance and tax costs dominate contractor concerns in CCF Victoria’s Civil Matters – 2026 State Election Survey
Civil Contractors Federation (CCF) Victoria has released its Civil Matters – 2026 State Election Survey, with the results directly influencing the policies the association will advocate for ahead of the 2026 State Election.
An interim analysis of the survey results revealed worsening conditions, particularly for small to medium enterprises and regional operators, with respondents explicitly describing structural unsustainability under current settings.
Fairer procurement settings and pipeline certainty topped the list of contractor concerns, reflecting similar sentiments that regional civil contracting businesses reported through CCF Victoria’s 2025 Regional Forums series.
Systemic red tape restrictions, compliance and regulatory burdens came a close second in the survey results, as Victoria looks towards the late November poll which CCF Victoria says could prove to be strongly swayed by civil infrastructure issues.
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Ongoing taxation pressures rounded out the top three most urgent concerns for civil industry members, reinforcing CCF Victoria’s advocacy platform and priorities.
The survey also found 62.5 per cent of respondents felt negatively about their business’s ongoing viability, with themes of business continuity and closure concerns, with several respondents also expecting to close their business within the next five years.
In addition, 56.25 per cent of respondents estimated regulatory costs between $50,000 and $1 million, and only 21 per cent of contractors said they expected positive future outcomes for their business.
CCF Victoria says one contractor commented ‘there will probably be no small businesses left in Victoria, we will all be taxed out’ as if to underline the concern and urgency for the state government to ease restrictive trading conditions.
Other contractors said the state government needed to invest more into regional infrastructure, particularly with Victoria’s state-wide population forecast to boom, requiring sustainable jobs as well as critical infrastructure such as rural roads and housing.