Cement Concrete & Aggregates Australia (CCAA) is calling on the Victorian Legislative Council to stop extraordinary fee increases averaging 253 per cent being imposed on the businesses supplying the materials needed to build Victoria.
A motion to be moved by the Hon David Davis MP will seek to disallow Statutory Rules 111 and 112, which introduce the significant increases to minerals and extractive-industry fees.
CCAA Chief Executive Officer Michael Kilgariff said Parliament now had an opportunity to prevent another major cost increase being imposed on an industry essential to Victoria’s housing and infrastructure ambitions.
“A 253 per cent increase in fees for the quarrying sector is not reasonable, proportionate or sustainable,” Mr Kilgariff said.
“Victoria says it wants to build more homes and deliver major infrastructure, but at the same time it is dramatically increasing the cost of producing the stone, sand and gravel needed to build them.
“You cannot make housing and infrastructure more affordable by continually increasing costs at the very beginning of the construction supply chain.
“These are not optional materials. Every new home, road, rail project, school, hospital and renewable energy project needs the products our industry supplies.
“Quarries cannot simply move interstate. Construction materials need to be sourced close to where they are used, and making local production more expensive ultimately puts greater pressure on construction costs.
“The impact will be particularly significant for smaller and regional operators already dealing with rising energy, labour, transport and regulatory costs.
“Industry accepts the need to pay its fair share for effective regulation. What we cannot accept is an average 253 per cent increase without a corresponding demonstration that Victoria’s regulatory system will become substantially faster, more efficient and more accountable.
“Members of the Legislative Council now have a clear choice.
“They can allow these extraordinary increases to proceed, or they can send a clear message that continually adding costs to the industries responsible for building Victoria is not sustainable.
“CCAA urges members across the Parliament and the crossbench to support the disallowance motion.”
Victoria’s heavy construction materials industry contributes $3.17 billion to Gross State Product and supports more than 15,600 jobs.
CCAA is calling for the fee increases to be stopped and for the Victorian Government to work with industry on a fair, transparent and proportionate approach to regulatory cost recovery.