Today’s announcement of $13 million in relief payments paid to State Government building contractors is no comfort to civil construction contractors whose businesses are ineligible for the escalation relief scheme.

Civil Contractors Federation WA CEO Andy Graham said the Government’s Head Contractor Relief Scheme was narrowly limited to construction works procured through the departments of Finance and Communities.

“Those departments mainly procure building works, such as schools and housing,” Mr Graham said. “This means the scheme has effectively been targeted at the building sector. It’s provided little or no relief to our members in the civil construction sector, who construct Government road, rail, power, water, port and land development projects. 

“Some State Government civil contracts already had built-in escalation clauses, but many more didn’t. The relief scheme could have been a godsend to local civil contractors who – just like their fellow contractors in the building sector – have had to bear the brunt of extreme and unforeseen escalation over the past couple of years.

“The Government media release notes that building industry groups have welcomed the relief scheme, which is perfectly understandable as the scheme provides targeted relief for their members. But the release doesn’t explain why the scheme doesn’t provide any support to hundreds of other hard-working construction businesses who deliver civil works for the State Government.

“It’s not too late to address this glaring oversight.”