Key Facts:
- The 2026 Intergenerational Report highlights the significant construction task ahead for Australia over the next 40 years, encompassing housing, infrastructure, renewable energy and new industries such as data centres, all of which will require substantial quantities of cement, concrete and aggregates.
- CCAA Chief Executive Officer Michael Kilgariff has called for construction materials to be central to Australia’s long-term infrastructure and productivity planning, warning that quarries and material operations cannot be rapidly scaled up without advance planning, secure resource access and efficient approvals.
- Faster, clearer and less duplicative approval processes, along with protection of strategically important material resources from incompatible development, are identified as practical reforms that could improve productivity and help Australia build more efficiently.
- Workforce development must extend across the entire construction supply chain – including extraction, manufacturing and transport – and freight settings should be modernised to allow materials to move more safely and efficiently, reducing costs and truck movements.
- Meeting future construction demand must be pursued alongside decarbonisation, with innovation, lower-carbon materials and fit-for-purpose procurement standards needed to reduce embodied carbon while sustaining the scale of building required for Australia’s energy transition and broader growth ambitions.
Cement Concrete & Aggregates Australia (CCAA) says the 2026 Intergenerational Report reinforces the need to plan now for the construction materials, workforce and supply chains required to deliver Australia’s housing, infrastructure and energy ambitions.
The report maps the major changes expected to reshape Australia over the next 40 years and highlights stronger productivity as critical to future economic growth and living standards.
CCAA Chief Executive Officer Michael Kilgariff said these changes would require a significant physical construction task.
“Whether it is building more homes, expanding the electricity grid, delivering renewable energy projects, constructing infrastructure for growing communities or supporting new industries, Australia will need an enormous amount of physical infrastructure,” Mr Kilgariff said.
“None of that can be delivered without the cement, concrete and aggregates needed to build it, and improving productivity across the construction supply chain will be critical to delivering it efficiently and affordably.
“The Intergenerational Report looks at what Australia will need over the next 40 years. We also need to be thinking about where the construction materials needed to build that future will come from.”
The report points to enabling infrastructure, faster housing approvals and a larger skilled construction workforce to support housing supply. It also identifies the need to efficiently build new energy assets as Australia’s energy system transforms.
New industries will add further demand, including an Australian data centre pipeline Treasury estimates could support more than $150 billion in investment by 2030.
Mr Kilgariff said construction materials needed to be part of Australia’s long-term infrastructure and productivity planning.
“Quarries and construction material operations cannot simply be switched on when demand arrives. They require access to suitable resources, long-term investment, efficient approvals and reliable transport networks.
“That means protecting strategically important resources from incompatible development and recognising that quarries need to be located where the geology exists and close to the communities they supply.
“It also means making approvals faster, clearer and less duplicative. Protecting strategically important resources, reducing unnecessary regulatory burden and improving approval timeframes are practical productivity reforms that can help Australia build more efficiently.”
The report identifies streamlined approvals, reduced unnecessary regulation, investment and skills development among the measures that can support stronger productivity.
Mr Kilgariff said workforce and freight capacity would also be critical.
“Building workforce capability has to extend across the entire construction supply chain – including the people who extract, manufacture and transport the materials that arrive on construction sites.
“We also need modern freight settings that allow those materials to move safely and efficiently. Better road access and higher-productivity vehicles can deliver more material with fewer truck movements, reducing costs and improving productivity.”
Mr Kilgariff said meeting future demand must also go hand-in-hand with the industry’s transition towards net zero.
“Demand for construction materials is not going away as Australia decarbonises – the infrastructure required for the transition adds to the construction task.
“The challenge is to meet that demand while reducing embodied carbon through innovation, lower-carbon materials, fit-for-purpose standards and procurement settings that support investment.
“Decisions made today about resource security, approvals, workforce capability, freight productivity and decarbonisation will help determine whether Australia has the capacity to build the future it is planning for.”
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.
