The rankings were further informed by a survey of seven hundred and forty-six VCCI members, in addition to several roundtables that were held with members to better understand the minutiae of costs that were impacting them.

The Chamber’s recommendations include:

1. Develop a business concierge to streamline the experience for business at the interface of government and industry.
2. Conduct a ‘root and branch’ review of the Victorian tax system with the aim of optimising state revenue collection to deal with the costs facing Victorian businesses, while also making Victoria the lowest taxing jurisdiction for business in Australia.
3. Fast-track government approvals, grants and programs to get business back in business, and to address the backlog of projects delayed due to COVID-19.
4. Continue to enhance and evolve the culture of the public sector and of local government in engaging with business, so that it has a business enabling and proactive mindset.
5. Create a permanent forum or working group for a diverse set of industry stakeholders to provide early input into policy design and delivery.
6. Expand the facilitation role of Invest Victoria to have a greater focus on boosting the success of small business and regional industry.
7. Build on the partnership between VCCI and the Victorian Skills Authority to help address the rising skill mismatch challenge in the state, particularly in vocational education and in regional areas.
8. Seek out opportunities for government to partner with the private sector in delivering key services where appropriate.

The report’s findings include:

• The Nous Cost and Ease Ranking puts Victoria first in the country for skills and labour and second in entrepreneurship and growth, but sixth for affordability and labour productivity and
• seventh on the number of permits needed to start a business.
• It reveals Victorian businesses pay the highest national and state taxes relative to Gross State Product (GSP) in the country and our public sector is the smallest in Australia compared with our overall workforce.
• Thirty-nine per cent of survey respondents reported that time was a bigger cost to doing business than money.
• More than half of national businesses said it was hardest to do business in Victoria.
• Four out of five businesses said they had difficulty accessing the labour and skills they need.
• Only seven per cent think the government is doing a good job of reducing the cost of doing business.