Four-day work week proposal dismissed by PM and Treasurer as pair align ahead of next week's roundtable

West Australian

4 days ago

A union-led call for
Australia
to adopt a four-day work week has been shot down by both the Prime Minister and Treasurer before it could even be discussed at next week's productivity roundtable.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions claimed its push for shorter working hours would boost productivity and improve Australians' work-life balance but business groups have slammed the idea as 'populist' and 'anti-productivity.'
Anthony Albanese laughed off the proposal when asked on Wednesday, joking he'd 'wouldn't mind a six-day-and-23-hour work week, myself, rather than 24/7' before adding 'certainly, the government has no plans'.
The proposal faced further rejection from Jim Chalmers who echoed: 'We haven't been working up a policy for a four day week. That hasn't been our focus'.
It comes after Dr Chalmers had previously said he didn't want to kill off floated ideas before the three-day talks even begin.
Business
Council of Australia boss Bran Black slammed the peak body for Australian unions for not taking the roundtable opportunity seriously and proposing ideas based on 'fundamentally-flawed evidence'.
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox had fumed that attendees had been explicitly told industrial relations reforms wouldn't be discussed at all. It was frustration which was shared by Australian Chamber or Commerce and Industry boss Andrew McKellar who said they had also respected the rules but said IR should be on the agenda.
The PM and Dr Chalmers' lock-step on the issue marked a notable shift on Wednesday after mixed messaging on Labor's ambition of their upcoming productivity-turned-economic reform roundtable next week.
The PM bushed off questioning on Wednesday that he had spoken to his treasurer face-to-face on the need to 'be on the same page' regarding the roundtable, saying they meet every week.
'We meet every week. We met face to face. We meet every single week. We talk every week, almost every day. We talked yesterday. We talk every day, either in person or exchange messages,' the PM told ABC radio, in a morning media appearance blitz.
It comes after the PM had previously hosed down the prospect of major tax reform emerging from the productivity round table.
'The only tax policy that we're implementing is the one that we took to the election,' he had said last week when seeking to adjust expectations.
But on Wednesday, the PM changed his tune, declaring: 'I'm up for big reform and we are a big reforming
Government
'.
Mr Albanese also flagged he would act immediately on 'low hanging fruit' which can be agreed on.
'I think there's a range of things that we can do immediately out of the roundtable,' he said.
'That's what I hope. There's agreement. There's some low-hanging fruit out there that we can get done.'
Dr Chalmers later added he was also eyeing 'sufficient common ground in areas that aren't especially controversial' to move on immediately.
'It's hard to preempt the suggestions that people might make. There might be sufficient appetites, sufficient common ground in areas that aren't especially controversial to make some progress on tax reform,' he said.
'On tax reform more broadly, the PM and I have said the same thing. We've had a tax reform agenda and our focus is on rolling that out.
'We haven't changed our position on the tax policies that we have.'
However, both said not all changes would necessarily be immediate, as measures could come in next year's budget or a future government term.
'There's other measures that will feed into next year's Budget. There's other things that could be for a future term of government,' the PM said.
Shadow Finance Minister James Paterson said Coalition would back any proposals from next week's economic roundtable that boost productivity.
'If good ideas are brought forward at the round table, and if the government adopts them and chooses to move forward with them, then we'll offer bipartisan support for them to be legislated and enacted,' he told ABC.
'If there are ideas that reduce red tape and regulation, we're up for that. We're open minded.
'We have reservations if the government tries to do things it doesn't have a mandate for because it didn't earn it at the election, for example, increasing taxes.
'Labor didn't tell anyone before the election that they would raise taxes.
'A hand-picked roundtable of people in Canberra doesn't provide them the mandate.'