A Win for Australian Owned Contractors Through Federal Government Definition of Australian Business

Australian Owned Contractors (AOC) congratulates the Albanese Government for delivering another commitment from its Buy Australia Plan in defining what is an Australian Business for the first time through Commonwealth procurement regulations and frameworks.

In addition to a robust and easily understood definition of what constitutes an Australian Business, reforms to the consideration of broader economic benefits under the Commonwealth Procurement Rules will enhance opportunities for AOC members to bid for, and win, head contracts on our largest and iconic infrastructure projects.

AOC CEO Brent Crockford said strengthening how the Government understands what is a genuinely locally-owned business would help shape procurement outcomes and strengthen Australia’s sovereign capability in civil construction at a time of record public funding commitments.
“The announcement by Ministers Gallagher and Husic have been realised after much advocacy by AOC and industry peers. This is a win for Australia’s civil contracting industry in helping to level the playing field for locally owned civil contractors when it comes to bidding for major infrastructure contracts either fully or partly funded by the Federal Government,” Mr Crockford said.

“For the first time, Government clients can properly discern between the ownership of Australian Mid-Tier contractors and foreign-owned Tier 1 businesses that compete for this work as the prime contractor. In having this knowledge to hand, they can both evaluate and assess the benefits of awarding work to an Australian business: where profits are retained onshore, domestic taxes are recouped and successful outcomes are invested back in local and regional economies.

“Infrastructure Australia’s very recent Infrastructure Market Capacity Report confirms what AOC members witness daily: the share of the public infrastructure construction market contracts held by tier-1 firms has grown from 49% to 59% since 2016.1 This definition seeks to address this concerning trend by making Australian Governments a more informed investor.”

AOC looks forward to collaborating with States and Territory Governments with this definition to help them address the challenges of a more competitive market for civil construction through the growth and development of Australian owned Mid-Tier contractors.