This opinion article by Business Council of Australia Chief Executive Bran Black was published in the Australian Financial Review on 4 March 2026.
Australia is in a global race for finite capital, and we need to maintain our hunger for reform if we are to win it.
The events in the Middle East highlight the uncertain geopolitical environment in which businesses are operating today. In that context, providing a comparably safe and stable environment, with competitive settings, is vital for attracting investment.
Investors compare countries side by side and gravitate towards those that minimise risk, underlining the importance of making our investment attraction settings as competitive as possible.
Around the world, governments are sharpening their settings to attract investment, cutting regulation, streamlining approvals, securing energy systems, reducing company tax rates and backing productivity growth.
That’s because capital is mobile and will flow to where it is welcomed, certain and earns a competitive return. The question for Australia is simple: are we determined to be in the top tier of that race, or just content to drift in the middle of the pack?
The Business Council of Australia’s Global Investment Competitiveness Index is a new benchmark comparing 42 nations on the investment fundamentals that matter most to decision-makers.
It is designed with one clear purpose: to set a practical reform road map to make Australia a top 10 global investment competitor.
At present, we are not. But in recent years, we have shown we have the appetite and capability to get there, particularly in the leaps made on trade openness, one of the key drivers of competitiveness.
Australia ranks 21st for investment competitiveness overall, out of 42 countries. That puts us behind not only the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, but a cohort of smaller, agile European economies that have deliberately aligned their tax, regulatory and labour market systems to compete for global capital.
If we lose the contest for investment, we lose more than projects. We lose opportunity.
The good news is that when Australia focuses on meaningful reform, we make progress.
Trade, a focus for governments, is a case in point. Thanks to important recent government actions – including tariff reductions and strengthened trade facilitation – Australia now ranks second globally on trade openness.
We are, I hope, also on the cusp of another significant trade win in European Union negotiations. But trade alone will not carry us into the top 10.
Our overall ranking of 21st is weighed down by areas in which our settings make it harder to compete, including in relation to regulation, business taxation and investment restrictiveness.
On regulation, Australia ranks 37th. Businesses report duplication across all levels of government, slow approvals and growing compliance burdens. In a world in which capital for major projects is mobile, delay – or potential delay – is an investment killer.
On business taxation, we rank 38th. Our 30 per cent corporate tax rate sits above many of our competitors.
All these settings reflect policy choices, and, at least in the case of cutting red tape, needn’t cost us much to fix. With a national target and ambition, we can do it. That is precisely why this index matters. It shows where we are strong in trade, energy security and rule of law, but also where reform would deliver the greatest lift.
If we can lift our game, every Australian will feel the benefit. Importantly, if we’re going to lift our game, we must do so for all businesses, including the nation’s largest. This is because large businesses account for about 75 per cent of private investment and employ 4.7 million Australians, and so when investment rises, those businesses expand supply chains, lift research and development spending, and create secure, high-wage jobs.
Put simply, the purpose of our new annual index is to encourage our nation to be ambitious in the race to secure investment.
That type of ambition means committing to a measurable reduction in regulatory burden. It means making business tax settings more competitive and more certain, streamlining foreign investment approvals so low-risk capital can move quickly and ensuring our workplace settings support productivity.
Above all, it means recognising that competitiveness is not any one-off reform, but a sustained approach that requires national focus.