Opinion Piece: Australia's Future Must Be Built on Strong Foundations
Cement Concrete & Aggregates Australia
Key Facts:- Australia's cement, concrete and aggregates industry contributed $20.7 billion to national GDP and supported nearly 113,000 jobs in 2024–25, yet its scale and importance to the economy is frequently overlooked.
- The industry underpins Australia's $242 billion major public infrastructure pipeline, as well as government ambitions around housing and renewable energy, with more than 30 million cubic metres of premixed concrete produced annually.
- Significant cost pressures are mounting, with concrete, cement and sand prices around 36 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels, and road freight transport prices rising a record 17.6 per cent in the year to June 2026.
- Supply chain risks are already apparent, with new quarry approvals taking five to ten years and 40 per cent of organisations surveyed by Infrastructure Australia considering sand or quarry products exposed to moderate-to-major supply risks.
- Cement Concrete & Aggregates Australia is launching *Foundations for Australia's Future*, calling on governments to protect quarry resources, streamline approvals, improve freight networks, and integrate construction materials planning at the earliest stages of infrastructure and housing projects.
Australia has big ambitions.
We want to build more homes, deliver major transport infrastructure, strengthen our regions and construct the renewable energy systems that will support a lower-carbon economy.
But every one of those ambitions starts with something far more fundamental: the materials needed to build them.
Cement, concrete and aggregates are quite literally the foundations of modern Australia. They are in our homes, roads, bridges, railways, hospitals, schools, water infrastructure and energy projects.
Yet the scale of the industry that supplies these materials, and its importance to Australia’s economy, is often overlooked.
Independent analysis by Oxford Economics Australia puts that contribution into perspective.
In 2024–25, Australia’s cement, concrete and aggregates industry contributed $20.7 billion to national GDP and supported 112,970 jobs.
Those numbers tell an important story, but they are only part of it.
More importantly, the industry sits at the beginning of a much larger economic chain. It supplies the essential materials that allow builders, engineers and governments to turn plans on paper into homes, infrastructure and projects on the ground.
More than 30 million cubic metres of premixed concrete is produced in Australia each year, enough to fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground more than 19 times.
Demand for these materials is not going away.
Australia has a $242 billion major public infrastructure pipeline, while governments are simultaneously pursuing ambitious housing targets and accelerating investment in renewable energy and transmission infrastructure.
That means an important question needs to sit alongside every discussion about what Australia plans to build:
Where will the materials come from?
Supplying these materials depends on infrastructure and resources that take years to establish. Quarries must be located where suitable resources exist, while concrete batching plants need to be close to the communities and projects they supply.
When those foundations are weakened, the consequences flow through the entire construction supply chain – through higher costs, longer transport distances, lower productivity, greater emissions and delays to construction.
And those cost pressures are already significant.
The price of concrete, cement and sand used in Australian house construction is now around 36 per cent higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, Australian road freight transport prices increased by a record 17.6 per cent in the year to June 2026, with much of the increase driven by higher fuel surcharges.
These are not costs that exist in isolation. Construction materials need to be extracted, processed and transported to where they are needed. Higher material and freight costs ultimately add to the cost of delivering homes and infrastructure, contributing to broader inflationary pressures and making every dollar of construction investment work less effectively.
That makes productivity across the construction supply chain increasingly important.
The challenge is already apparent. New quarries can face approval periods of five to ten years, while 40 per cent of organisations surveyed by Infrastructure Australia consider sand or quarry products exposed to moderate-to-major supply-chain risks.
At the same time, our industry is undergoing its own transformation.
Australia’s cement and concrete industry is committed to net zero by 2050. Producers are increasing the use of supplementary cementitious materials, alternative fuels and recycled aggregates, while investing in new technologies and lower-carbon production.
The opportunity is therefore bigger than simply producing more material.
It is about ensuring Australia has a secure, productive and increasingly sustainable heavy construction materials industry capable of supporting the next generation of national development.
That requires action from governments.
We need to protect strategically important quarry resources and industrial land. We need faster and more predictable approvals. We need freight networks that allow modern, productive vehicles to move materials efficiently. And we need standards and procurement frameworks that support innovation and create genuine demand for lower-carbon products.
These are not simply industry asks. They are productivity reforms. Getting materials approved, produced and transported more efficiently can help reduce unnecessary costs and inflationary pressures across the construction supply chain, while improving Australia’s capacity to deliver more with the investment already being made.
Most importantly, construction materials supply needs to be considered at the beginning of infrastructure, housing and energy planning, not once projects are already underway.
Announcing a road does not build a road. Setting a housing target does not build a home. Approving a renewable energy project does not pour its foundations.
Ultimately, Australia can only build at the pace its material supply chains allow.
That is why CCAA is launching Foundations for Australia’s Future, a national conversation about securing the materials needed to support Australia’s housing, infrastructure, energy and economic ambitions.
An industry contributing $20.7 billion to GDP and supporting almost 113,000 Australian jobs is significant in its own right.
Its greater importance lies in what it enables.
If Australia is serious about building more homes, delivering infrastructure, lifting productivity and making the transition to a lower-carbon economy, then securing the materials needed to make those ambitions possible must become a national priority.
Strong ambitions require strong foundations.
Michael Kilgariff
CEO
Cement Concrete & Aggregates Australia
About us:
About CCAA
CCAA is the voice of Australia’s heavy construction materials industry, an industry that contributes $20.7 billion to GDP and supports 112,970 jobs nationwide. CCAA members produce most of Australia's cement, concrete and aggregates, which are essential to the nation’s building and construction sectors.
Contact details:
Contact: Mitch Itter, Manager Communications | 0431 542 660 | [email protected]