VICTORIAN POLICY UPDATE | What the Coalition's new approvals means for business

The Victorian Liberals and Nationals will replace 79 separate local business laws with one statewide framework, creating a single front door for business approvals through Service Victoria.

For business, the important point is not the number of laws. It is what these changes deliver in practice.

What could change for business?

For companies trying to open, expand, build, trade or operate across Victoria, this policy is designed to make government easier to navigate.

That means:

• Fewer different rules across council areas, particularly for activities such as footpath trading, construction sites and skip bins
• One application process, with businesses able to deal with planning, food registration, liquor licensing and other approvals through a single platform
• Less duplication, with businesses providing information once
• Clearer visibility on approvals, including the ability to track applications and compare progress against published processing times
• A single point of escalation when an approval is delayed or different agencies give conflicting advice
• More flexibility for home-based businesses, including changes to floor-space limits, commercial vehicles and customer collection

Why this matters

The cost of regulation is not just the fee on an application. It is also the time spent chasing departments, interpreting different council rules, waiting for approvals and trying to work out who is responsible for a decision.

For small businesses, that can delay opening the doors.

For larger businesses, it can slow critical investment, site expansion, construction and new projects.

For businesses operating across several council areas, greater consistency will make it easier to scale without having to relearn the regulatory environment every time they cross a municipal boundary.

The bigger policy signal

A Coalition Government will put a strong emphasis on speed, consistency and accountability in the way business deals with government. That matters well beyond hospitality or small business.

Retail, property, construction, health, professional services, logistics and other regulated sectors should all be looking at where a more centralised approvals model could affect them.

The real test, of course, is in the detail.

Which approvals are included? How much discretion will councils retain? What happens when agencies disagree? And will the proposed Business Approvals Concierge have enough authority to genuinely remove bottlenecks?

Those are the questions all businesses should be asking now.

At Stratagem Corporate Advisory, we are helping organisations understand how Victoria's policy environment is changing ahead of the election, what the changes could mean commercially, and where there may be an opportunity to engage before the detail is settled.

For businesses that rely on government approvals, regulation or planning decisions, this is a policy worth watching closely.

Contact Stratagem Corporate Advisory to learn more about what this means for your business.

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Originally published on LinkedIn, 17 September 2026.

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