Productivity to dominate agenda as symposium begins
Treasurer Jim Chalmers will finally convene his economic reform roundtable on Tuesday after weeks of anticipation.
Heavyweights in the field, like former treasury secretary Ken Henry, consumer watchdog chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb, Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus, Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black and others will gather in Canberra over three days to discuss ways to lift Australians' living standards.
Productivity will be a primary focus but the forum will also discuss ways to build resilience and strengthen the budget.
The federal government has been teasing the event for weeks as stakeholders submitted ideas to reinvigorate the economy.
Everything from cuts to property investor tax breaks to AI to environmental law reform have been floated but Dr Chalmers has reined in expectations this will result in an immediate shake-up of the economy.
"The best way to think about this reform roundtable is three days which will help inform the next three budgets," he told AAP.
"It's not an opportunity to make decisions. It's an opportunity to inform the decisions of the cabinet."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says his government is "unashamedly open", though major changes in some areas like tax policy have already been ruled out.
The gathering is expected to dwarf every other economic event in Australia but another on the other side of the globe will still likely make news.
Dozens of central bankers, policymakers, academics and economists from around the world are also expected to gather in the US for the Federal Reserve's own roundtable.
The three-day Jackson Hole Economic Symposium kicks off on Thursday as the curtains close on Australia's forum and its experts are expected to discuss productivity and labour markets.
Across the ditch, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand is set to make an interest rate decision a week after Australia's central bank chose to cut by 25 basis points.
Australia's corporate reporting season will also continue as companies with companies like Ampol. Woodside, Santos, Bega Cheese, Whitehaven Coal and Inghams all set to reveal their earnings throughout the week.
Wall Street investors, meanwhile, appeared to have a mild case of the jitters on Friday with mixed data clouding the Fed's next monetary policy. The blue-chip Dow Jones ended higher but other indexes slipped.
There were also hopes President Donald Trump's meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin would not only pave the way for a resolution to the Ukraine conflict but determine the outlook for crude prices.
The Dow rose 34.86 points, or 0.08 per cent to 44,946.12, the S&P 500 lost 18.74 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 6,449.80 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 87.69 points, or 0.40 per cent, to 21,622.98.
Australian share futures took a 53-point, or 0.59 per cent, dip to 7,713.
The S&P/ASX200 shrugged off a midday wobble to charge higher by 64.8 points, or 0.73 per cent, to a best-ever close of 8,938.6, a 1.4 per cent gain for the week.
The broader all Ordinaries surged 63 points higher, up 0.69 per cent, to 9,212.1, the best close for Australia's top 500 stocks, now with a combined value of more than $2.9 trillion.
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32 minutes ago
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Putin backed Ukraine security protections at summit: US
US envoy Steve Witkoff says Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed at his summit with US President Donald Trump to allow Ukraine's allies to offer it a security guarantee as part of an eventual deal to end the war. "We were able to win the following concession: that the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in NATO," he told CNN. Witkoff said it was the first time he had heard Putin agree to that. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, speaking at a news conference in Brussels with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said that "we welcome President Trump's willingness to contribute to Article 5-like security guarantees for Ukraine. and the 'coalition of the willing' -including the European Union - is ready to do its share". Witkoff, offering some of the first details of what was discussed at Friday's summit in Alaska, said the two sides agreeing to "robust security guarantees that I would describe as game-changing". He added that Russia said that it would make a legislative commitment not to go after any additional territory in Ukraine. Zelenskiy thanked the United States for recent signals that it was willing to support security guarantees for Ukraine but said the details remained unclear. "It is important that America agrees to work with Europe to provide security guarantees for Ukraine," he said, "But there are no details how it will work, and what America's role will be, Europe's role will be and what the EU can do and this is our main task, we need security to work in practice like Article 5 of NATO, and we consider EU accession to be part of the security guarantees." Witkoff defended Trump's decision to abandon his push for Russian to agree to an immediate ceasefire, saying the president had pivoted toward a peace deal to end the three-and-a-half-year war because so much progress was made. "We covered almost all the other issues necessary for a peace deal," Witkoff said. "We began to see some moderation in the way they're thinking about getting to a final peace deal," he said. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted there would be "additional consequences" as Trump warned before meeting with Putin, if they failed to reach a ceasefire. But Rubio noted that there was not going to be any sort of deal on a truce reached when Ukraine was not at the talks. "Now, ultimately, if there isn't a peace agreement, if there isn't an end of this war, the president's been clear: there are going to be consequences," Rubio said on US broadcaster ABC. "But we're trying to avoid that. And the way we're trying to avoid those consequences is with an even better consequence, which is peace, the end of hostilities." He also said "we're not at the precipice of a peace agreement" and that getting there would not be easy and would take a lot of work. "We made progress in the sense that we identified potential areas of agreement but there remains some big areas of disagreement. So we're still a long ways off," Rubio said. Zelenskiy and European leaders are scheduled to meet Monday with Trump at the White House. They heard from the president after his meeting with Putin. "I think everybody agreed that we had made progress. Maybe not enough for a peace deal but we are on the path for the first time," Witkoff said. He added: "The fundamental issue, which is some sort of land swap, which is obviously ultimately in the control of the Ukrainians - that could not have been discussed at this meeting" with Putin. "We intend to discuss it on Monday. Hopefully we have some clarity on it and hopefully that ends up in a peace deal very, very soon."
Perth Now
32 minutes ago
- Perth Now
Putin backed Ukraine security protections at summit: US
US envoy Steve Witkoff says Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed at his summit with US President Donald Trump to allow Ukraine's allies to offer it a security guarantee as part of an eventual deal to end the war. "We were able to win the following concession: that the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in NATO," he told CNN. Witkoff said it was the first time he had heard Putin agree to that. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, speaking at a news conference in Brussels with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said that "we welcome President Trump's willingness to contribute to Article 5-like security guarantees for Ukraine. and the 'coalition of the willing' -including the European Union - is ready to do its share". Witkoff, offering some of the first details of what was discussed at Friday's summit in Alaska, said the two sides agreeing to "robust security guarantees that I would describe as game-changing". He added that Russia said that it would make a legislative commitment not to go after any additional territory in Ukraine. Zelenskiy thanked the United States for recent signals that it was willing to support security guarantees for Ukraine but said the details remained unclear. "It is important that America agrees to work with Europe to provide security guarantees for Ukraine," he said, "But there are no details how it will work, and what America's role will be, Europe's role will be and what the EU can do and this is our main task, we need security to work in practice like Article 5 of NATO, and we consider EU accession to be part of the security guarantees." Witkoff defended Trump's decision to abandon his push for Russian to agree to an immediate ceasefire, saying the president had pivoted toward a peace deal to end the three-and-a-half-year war because so much progress was made. "We covered almost all the other issues necessary for a peace deal," Witkoff said. "We began to see some moderation in the way they're thinking about getting to a final peace deal," he said. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted there would be "additional consequences" as Trump warned before meeting with Putin, if they failed to reach a ceasefire. But Rubio noted that there was not going to be any sort of deal on a truce reached when Ukraine was not at the talks. "Now, ultimately, if there isn't a peace agreement, if there isn't an end of this war, the president's been clear: there are going to be consequences," Rubio said on US broadcaster ABC. "But we're trying to avoid that. And the way we're trying to avoid those consequences is with an even better consequence, which is peace, the end of hostilities." He also said "we're not at the precipice of a peace agreement" and that getting there would not be easy and would take a lot of work. "We made progress in the sense that we identified potential areas of agreement but there remains some big areas of disagreement. So we're still a long ways off," Rubio said. Zelenskiy and European leaders are scheduled to meet Monday with Trump at the White House. They heard from the president after his meeting with Putin. "I think everybody agreed that we had made progress. Maybe not enough for a peace deal but we are on the path for the first time," Witkoff said. He added: "The fundamental issue, which is some sort of land swap, which is obviously ultimately in the control of the Ukrainians - that could not have been discussed at this meeting" with Putin. "We intend to discuss it on Monday. Hopefully we have some clarity on it and hopefully that ends up in a peace deal very, very soon."
ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Focus narrows on reducing regulation to boost productivity ahead of round table
Australia's productivity chief will assert that growth has not been a priority in policy making for years, citing the nation's growing tangle of regulation as evidence, in a speech ahead of Labor's economic reform round table this week. The warning coincides with a separate call from Australia's peak business bodies for red tape to be slashed by a quarter by the end of the decade, as Treasurer Jim Chalmers declared the government does "not want to settle for less" when it comes to productivity. Danielle Wood, chair of the Productivity Commission, will address the National Press Club on Monday, where she will argue there has been "less policy emphasis on growth and a declining reform appetite" across many wealthy nations in recent decades. "This manifests not just in less economic reform but in decisions by governments — federal, state and local — to pay less attention to growth trade-offs in pursuing other policy goals," she will say. "Nowhere is this more evident than in the growth of regulatory burden." Pointing to a significant increase in the number of words and conditional terms in acts and legislative instruments over the first two decades of the century, she will argue this "regulatory creep" is a symptom of the increasing demand for governments "to 'do something' every time an issue emerges". "When combined with Australians' tendency to look to government for answers — our 'Canberra fix' — we have ended up with a system that dampens growth." Business leaders, economists, unions and shadow treasurer Ted O'Brien will descend on Parliament House on Tuesday for a three-day meeting Mr Chalmers has billed as an opportunity to grapple with the big challenges facing the economy. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will address the attendees at the beginning of proceedings on Tuesday, and later on Wednesday, he will host the attendees at the Lodge. But expectations that the forum will lead to significant reform in the short term have been tempered by the prime minister, who earlier this month talked down the prospect of tax changes emerging from the talks. The commission has released five reports in the lead up to the round table, culminating in what Ms Wood called a "to-do list" of recommendations that could "shift the dial" on growth. Among them are many aimed at improving government regulation, including things like employing digital tools to streamline approval processes. A leaked Treasury document prepared for cabinet, first reported by the ABC this week, featured a list of possible outcomes from the round table, including a pause to changes for the National Construction Code, measures to speed up housing approvals, and a national artificial intelligence plan to cut environmental red tape. It led the opposition to label the talks a "stitch up", a claim the government has dismissed, arguing it's not unusual that the department would have provided advice on some of the already received ideas ahead of time. Mr Chalmers and Mr Albanese both once again vowed they would not pre-empt any outcomes on Sunday, with the leader telling reporters in Perth that "the agenda is whatever people want to raise". He said ideas put forward will feed into the government's decision-making, including some that can be done immediately if adopted, others that will be implemented through federal budget processes, and some that tackle "the long-term challenges in the global economy, the impact on Australia, and how we deal with those issues". Ahead of the round table, 29 groups representing small, medium and large Australian businesses have launched a concerted campaign to cull red tape, warning that it needs to be easier to do business in Australia to attract investment. The alliance will also use the forum to call for reform of the approval process for planning and major projects, boosts for investment and innovation, and a process for "productive" tax reform that doesn't raise costs for consumers or businesses. Council of Small Business Organisations Australia chair Matthew Addison said the round table was an "opportunity to reset the economy in a way that supports business, not stifles it". "Our small businesses are buckling under the weight of excessive red tape, with regulatory burden and a patchwork of complex compliance obligations slowing growth," he said. Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black echoed that changes were needed to make it easier for businesses to operate, "so a cafe owner in Melbourne doesn't face 36 licences before they can pour a cup of coffee". He also pointed specifically to the need to cut red tape to make it faster to approve and build new homes, something the government has identified needs to happen to solve the housing crisis. Ms Wood will reference Productivity Commission research that found the time it takes to build houses and apartments has ballooned by 50 per cent over the past three decades. "It's not the time laying bricks that's blown out. It's the approvals processes: from planning, to heritage, to building approvals, environmental and traffic impact statements," she will say. "And these regulatory hairballs have found their way into almost every corner of our economy." According to Ms Wood, prioritising growth means there will be uncomfortable trade-offs, for example, heritage and density restrictions coming at the expense of more and cheaper housing, but that a "growth mindset means elevating growth and its benefits across all policy decisions". "It does not mean government should never intervene or pursue other conflicting goals, but the benefits of growth should not be traded away quietly or lightly," she will say. In an interview ahead of the round table, Mr Chalmers told the ABC that there was a lot of appetite in cabinet for cutting red tape and improving regulation where possible, and it would be a "really, really big focus" of the talks. "There are a number of reasons for our productivity challenge and we're going to chip away at trying to address it over time," he said. "We don't want to waste the next decade on productivity, the way our predecessors wasted the last, and that's what drives us." Andrew Bragg, the Coalition's shadow minister for productivity and deregulation, will also lay out the opposition's plan to increase productivity on Monday, arguing Australia has become "inefficient, bureaucratic and unproductive". "Many regulations are well intentioned, but we must now confront their cumulative effect," he will say, arguing it is costing the economy billions each year. Like Ms Wood, he will warn against the impulse of solving issues by simply announcing new laws or regulations. "More rules is always seen as good. The minister can announce the problem is solved. The caravan moves on. The dog barks," he will argue. "There is limited interest in how the new rules are enforced — unless there is a scandal." The Coalition's answer is deregulation, with a focus on "genuine enterprise with limited, rather than repressive, controls".
