{"id":943930,"date":"2026-10-28T12:28:31","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T12:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/943930\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T12:28:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T12:28:31","slug":"victoria-named-as-the-worst-place-to-do-business-in-australia-for-the-fourth-year-in-a-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/943930\/","title":{"rendered":"Victoria named as the worst place to do business in Australia for the fourth year in a row"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia<\/a>\u2019s leading business body has called Victoria<\/a> the worst place in the country to do business, citing its high unemployment rate, high taxes, and complex bureaucracy.<\/p>\n

The Business Council of Australia (BCA) released its \u201cregulation rumble\u201d, which ranks the Australian states and territories on several factors, including tax, trading hours, licensing, and red tape.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Premier Ben Carroll has made moves to placate business owners ahead of the Victorian election.\u00a0Eddie Jim<\/p>\n

In its latest rankings, released on Wednesday, Victoria came last, while South Australia<\/a> came out on top.<\/p>\n

BCA chief executive Bran Black said people looking to build and create businesses in the state continued to face \u201cserious challenges\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201c[It has] the highest unemployment rate in the nation, high taxes and unnecessary regulation making it harder for businesses to invest, grow and create jobs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe same problems we identified last year still exist, particularly around payroll tax, property taxes and business licensing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black said red tape was holding Australian businesses back.\u00a0Alex Ellinghausen<\/p>\n

The rankings cover 12 months ending in mid-2026, but are subjective, with the BCA favouring lower taxes and less bureaucratic interference.<\/p>\n

While Victoria was singled out for criticism, Black claimed issues surrounding red tape were a theme across Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnnecessary red tape drives up the cost of doing business, and those costs ultimately flow through to everyday Australians, whether they\u2019re buying a cup of coffee or doing their weekly grocery shop,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCutting red tape means lower costs for businesses and better outcomes for Australians.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tasmania<\/a> was ranked the second-best place to do business in Australia, while the ACT<\/a> and NT<\/a> rounded out the top four.<\/p>\n

NSW<\/a> and Queensland<\/a> were ranked fifth and sixth, with WA<\/a> second last.<\/p>\n

The latest rankings come as Victoria prepares for an election next month, and both the state government and opposition have made moves to curry favour with businesses.<\/p>\n

Premier Ben Carroll postponed<\/a> controversial work-from-home laws<\/a> that would have legally protected the rights of Victorians to work from home at least two days a week if they were able to.<\/p>\n

These changes will now proceed on July 1 next year.<\/p>\n

Under Carroll\u2019s predecessor, Jacinta Allan, the state government had tabled a \u201cbetter decisions made faster\u201d bill, designed to speed up the planning framework to build homes in the state. <\/p>\n

However, this will not come into effect until next year.<\/p>\n

Both Carroll and opposition leader Jess Wilson fronted a Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry lunch on Tuesday, saying they wanted to back businesses in Victoria to help them and the state grow.<\/p>\n

“I want to keep working with you to find competitive advantages and maximise growth and jobs,” Carroll said, with Wilson claiming a Coalition government would make businesses a priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to get business back at the centre of the economy, investing and creating jobs in this state,” she said.<\/p>\n

Current polling<\/a> suggests the race is too close to call, with the Australian Financial Review<\/a> reporting, while the Coalition may get the most seats, it could fall short of majority government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s leading business body has called Victoria the worst place in the country to do business, citing its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":943931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-943930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=943930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/943931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=943930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=943930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=943930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}