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Regulation Rumble 2025
Comparing regulations and tax policies across states and territories
to inspire a race to the top
This is the third edition of the Business Council of Australia’s Regulation Rumble.
The BCA prepares Regulation Rumble to identify good regulatory and tax practices across Australia, to highlight what is working well and encourage states and territories to learn from each other.
For the third year in a row, the report compares state and territory planning systems, payroll taxes, land taxes, licensing, and other regulation that may be holding back business activity across Australia. This year, we have added to the scope, ranking insurance levies charged by the states and territories, and have expanded the metrics used to assess planning system performance.
By combining the ‘cost and regulation ranking’ together with the ‘planning ranking’ we identify the best jurisdictions in the nation in which to do business.
The need for better regulation is now a welcome feature on the national policy agenda. All states and territories should strive for best practice regulatory settings. In the coming years, as reforms and changes occur, we hope to see jurisdictions rise up the ranking as they seek to outperform others in a race to the top. Together this will lift Australia’s productivity and facilitate further business investment and employment growth.
Identifying Australia’s best places to do business
A competitive tax system, and effective and efficient regulation, are part of the economic fundamentals necessary for a more resilient, diversified, and dynamic economy — the current patchwork of regulation across the nation discourages investment and is a barrier for companies to expand and trade across state lines or overseas.
The annual scorecards compare how every state and territory performs on regulation, taxation, and planning systems — the essential ingredients that shape where businesses invest, grow, and create jobs.
The BCA has selected metrics that impact businesses across the nation, imposed at a state and territory level, to rank how jurisdictions perform in relative terms.
Jurisdictions that achieve a higher ranking are generally better placed to capture business investment and support employment growth. The rankings are from a business and customer perspective.
There are three “Best in 2025” scorecards and ten individual scorecards across two distinct areas: cost and regulation, and planning systems.
BEST FOR BUSINESS IN 2025
1st South Australia
2nd Tasmania
3rd Northern Territory
4th Australian Capital Territory
5th New South Wales
6th Queensland
7th Western Australia
8th Victoria
In 2025 South Australia has the best regulatory and tax settings for doing business in Australia. This is the third year that South Australia has topped the Regulation Rumble rankings.
Our comparison finds that South Australia comes out in front in terms of its payroll tax system and across aspects of its planning system. The state also ranks in the top three performers for property taxes and charges, and business licensing.
South Australia does however have room for improvement. It has relatively restrictive retail trading settings compared with much of the nation.
It also ranked last in the new insurance duties score card. Generally, however, in comparative terms today, the state still provides the best environment in which to do business.
Amongst the states and territories, Victoria remains as having the most work to do in improving its business environment. Disappointingly, this
is consistent with last year’s ranking. While its planning system ranks in the top half of the nation, it is the uncompetitive ranking for property taxes and charges, payroll taxes, and business licensing requirements, that heavily weigh down the state’s performance. That means Victoria continues to have much room for improvement to make it competitive from a business perspective.
As the second most populous state in the country, Victoria accounts for almost a quarter of the nation’s gross domestic product. So a poor
performance for the state has an outsized impact on the nation’s global competitiveness.
Compared with last year, the Northern Territory has moved up to third place in the rankings. This has been driven by a relative improvement in planning performance, coupled with an already strong performance on regulation and taxes.
COST AND REGULATION: Best in 2025
1st South Australia
2nd Northern Territory
3rd Australian Capital Territory
4th New South Wales
5th Tasmania
6th Queensland
7th Western Australia
8th Victoria
This master scorecard ranks the states and territories’ taxation, regulatory cost, and trading regulation from a business perspective. It brings together six elements. Each element is expanded on in its own scorecard:
- Taxes on employing workers (payroll taxes).
- Charges for owning property (land tax and stamp duty).
- Flexibility of retail trading hours.
- Cost of workers compensation schemes.
- Licensing and requirements to do business.
- Cost of insurance duties.
• Payroll taxes
1st South Australia
2nd New South Wales
3rd Northern Territory
4th Queensland
5th Tasmania
6th Western Australia
7th Victoria
8th Australian Capital Territory
Payroll tax is an additional cost that businesses must absorb when they hire more staff. A national business must also deal with eight different payroll tax regimes with differences in rates, thresholds, scaling systems, exemptions, and administration across the country.
What was measured?
- Highest payroll tax rates charged (including levies and surcharges).
- Thresholds for when payroll tax is applicable.
- Payroll tax rates charged for different payroll sizes.
- Alignment of payroll tax revenue rulings.
• Property taxes and charges
1st Australian Capital Territory
2nd Tasmania
3rd South Australia
4th Northern Territory
5th New South Wales
6th Western Australia
7th Queensland
8th Victoria
Land tax and stamp duty contribute significantly to the cost of doing business when holding or trading land and property.
What was measured?
- Highest stamp duty amounts charged.
- Stamp duty rates charged for different property values.
- Highest land tax rates charged.
- Land tax rates charged for different land values.
• Retail trading hours
1st Australian Capital Territory
Northern Territory
3rd Tasmania
Victoria
5th New South Wales
6th South Australia
7th Queensland
8th Western Australia
Restrictions on retail trading hours can limit business sales by preventing businesses from operating at times that best serve their customers. These limitations can lead to inefficiencies in business operations, adding an extra burden.
What was measured?
- Legislated restrictions on regular day retail trading.
- Legislated restrictions on public holiday retail trading.
• Cost of workers compensation schemes
1st Queensland
2nd Western Australia
3rd Victoria
4th Australian Capital Territory
5th Tasmania
6th South Australia
7th New South Wales
8th Northern Territory
Workers compensation is a compulsory form of insurance paid by most employers in Australia. It provides important protections to employees if they suffer a work-related injury or illness, which the BCA supports.
What was measured?
- Average premiums as a percentage of wages.
• Licensing and requirements to do business
1st Northern Territory
2nd South Australia
3rd Queensland
4th New South Wales
5th Western Australia
Australian Capital Territory
7th Tasmania
8th Victoria
The complexities and variations in business licensing, regulation and codes of practice across Australia significantly impact businesses, particularly small ones. Increased administrative burden, delays in obtaining necessary licences, and compliance risks can lead to higher costs and act as barriers to growth.
What was measured?
- The number of licences, regulations, and codes of practice required for a small café.
- The number of licences regulations, and codes of practice required for a small childcare service.
- The number of licences regulations, and codes of practice required for a small clothing, footwear, and accessories retailer.
• Insurance duties
1st Australian Capital Territory
2nd New South Wales
3rd Queensland
4th Tasmania
5th Victoria
6th Northern Territory
Western Australia
8th South Australia
Insurance duties are taxes imposed on the payment of insurance premiums. These payments impose a direct cost on businesses, as well as creating indirect regulatory complexity.
What was measured?
- The general insurance duty per cent rate.
- The occupational indemnity insurance duty per cent rate.
- The compulsory third party (CTP) insurance duty per cent rate.
PLANNING SYSTEMS: Best land use and planning system in 2025
1st South Australia
2nd Tasmania
3rd Western Australia
4th Victoria
5th Australian Capital Territory
6th Northern Territory
7th Queensland
8th New South Wales
This master scorecard ranks the nation’s planning and building permitting systems
from an applicant’s perspective. It brings together four elements. Each element is
expanded on in its own scorecard:
- Efficiency
- Consistency
- Certainty
- Transparency
• Efficiency
1st Western Australia
2nd Tasmania
3rd South Australia
4th Victoria
5th Queensland
6th Northern Territory
7th Australian Capital Territory
8th New South Wales
The core of any planning system is its permitting and approval processes.
What was measured?
- Average time for development applications valued under $30 million.
- Average time for development applications valued at over $30 million.
- Average time for construction approval post-development application.
- Average time for proponent initiated and planning authority code amendments, or rezonings.
- Residential building approvals per capita.
- Reduction of decision timeframes for development applications from previous year.
• Consistency
1st South Australia
2nd Australian Capital Territory
3rd Tasmania
4th Northern Territory
5th Victoria
6th New South Wales
7th Queensland
8th Western Australia
Consistency in processes underpins and drives efficiency in planning systems. It makes interactions between the thousands of applicants and multiple planning authorities more predictable and routine, and easier for businesses to navigate.
What was measured?
- Standardised planning instruments across the jurisdiction.
- Standardised zoning that provides clarity of interpretation and application.
- Number of planning documents beyond standard instruments.
- The ability or otherwise for planning scheme amendments (such as re-zoning
applications). - Specific mining and energy planning initiatives, in the context of the transition to a clean energy future.
- Whether there are planning reforms and programs in place consistent with the
national goal to increase housing supply.
• Certainty
1st Tasmania
2nd Queensland
3rd South Australia
4th Western Australia
5th Northern Territory
6th Australian Capital Territory
7th Victoria
8th New South Wales
Certainty in the planning system supports and drives efficiency. It enables project proponents to plan their delivery and operational needs with confidence. A lack of certainty in planning systems creates added risk and cost of delay, which impacts a project’s feasibility, reducing the likelihood a project may proceed.
What was measured?
- Whether a statutory timeframe is prescribed for deemed decisions by planning authorities on development applications.
- Limits on ‘stop the clock’ provisions that allow a planning authority to stop an assessment and seek additional information, and whether applicants can constrain their use.
- Availability of delegations to streamline bureaucracy and simplify procedural processes.
- Whether there are simple pathways for implementing developer contributions.
- Whether there are prescribed statutory timeframes for building regulators to make a building application decision.
- Whether statutory timeframes are prescribed for planning authorities to make plan amendment decisions/rezonings.
- Whether legislative or regulatory action has delivered on policy commitments.
- System wide reform compared with targeted, more limited reform.
• Transparency
1st New South Wales
2nd South Australia
3rd Victoria
4th Australian Capital Territory
5th Northern Territory
6th Tasmania
7th Western Australia
8th Queensland
Transparent planning processes allow applicants to understand how efficient a planning system is and help governments understand good and bad performance in the system. It informs those responsible for the system on what is working and
where there should be intervention, fostering an environment of continuous improvement.
What was measured?
- The extent of online web portals for applicants to view planning controls and track and lodge applications.
- The extent of open data provided about development application process
performance. - The extent of open data provided about planning scheme amendment
performance. - The extent of open data provided about building approval performance.
Regulation Rumble is based on research by urban planning professionals, together with the BCA’s economists and policy experts. The rankings are based on analysis of current policy settings as of mid-2025, including state and territory budgets and current legislation, together with outcome data that provides real world planning system performance. Regulation Rumble 2025 is focused on the performance and policies in place as at the end of the 2025 financial year, therefore, policies that have been announced but are not yet in place are not captured in the rankings.
To learn more about the rankings and key findings, download the report.
The Economic Reform Roundtable has put the cost of regulation on the national agenda.
A big part of the issue faced by business is the inconsistency and duplication between states and territories in regulating what is essentially the same activity in different ways, with different requirements.
That creates a regulatory maze across the country for medium and large businesses that operate across multiple jurisdictions.
Going forward, we need to rethink the way states and territories approach regulation; so that where there is not a strong case for differentiation across jurisdictions, the default becomes that states collaborate and work towards a single set of regulatory requirements.
To learn more about Regulation Rumble 2025, download the report.
Read the supporting documents and links below: