'Partial tick': coalition cautious on PM's summit idea

West Australian

a day ago

The federal opposition has given the government a partial tick over its upcoming productivity summit, saying that at least Labor recognises there is a problem.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the plan on Tuesday, saying the gathering of business, union and other leaders in Canberra in August would focus on ways to lift economic output.
"A round table. Yay!" shadow treasurer Ted O'Brien joked during an interview on Nine's Today program on Wednesday.
"But look ... to be fair, at least they're recognising the problem ... so let's take that as a partial tick."
Experts are concerned about Australia's lagging rate of productivity - a key economic measure of efficiency and long-term driver of improved living standards.
Despite criticism that previous federal government economic summits were too slanted, Mr Albanese said this roundtable would be broad-based.
He called for a mature discussion from all parties, noting it was in everyone's interest for productivity to improve.
"We're a Labor government, we support unions existing ... but we will always respect both the role of business and the role of unions," he told the National Press Club on Tuesday.
"There are common interests ... you don't get union members unless you've got successful employers.
"It's the private sector that drives an economy. What the public sector should do is facilitate private sector activity and private sector investment."
The Productivity Commissioner's most recent report showed labour productivity fell 0.1 per cent in the December quarter and dropped 1.2 per cent in the past year.
The Business Council of Australia says productivity growth over the past decade has been the lowest in 60 years.
Council chief executive Bran Black welcomed the roundtable, saying "lifting business investment is essential to boosting productivity, lifting real wages, creating jobs and ensuring more opportunity for more Australians".
"We will continue to be very clear about policies that the business community believes will be counterproductive to improving productivity," he said.
Mr Albanese said he wanted a boost to productivity, alongside other economic indicators as part of his second-term agenda.
"We want to build an economy where growth, wages and productivity rise together," he said.
ACTU secretary Sally McManus said working Australians must be at the centre of the roundtable.
"We need to leave behind the idea that productivity is equated with cutting pay and making people work harder for less," she said.
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar said boosting productivity was essential for economic growth.
"The business community looks forward to participating in the summit and contributing constructive and sensible ideas to address the problem," he said.
Meanwhile, the World Bank has slashed its global growth forecast for 2025 by four-tenths of a percentage point to 2.3 per cent.
The downgrade was driven by higher US tariffs on foreign imports and heightened uncertainty posed a "significant headwind" for nearly all economies.
The World Bank is the latest body to cut its growth forecast as a result of President Donald Trump's erratic trade policies.
But it stopped short of forecasting a recession, despite predicting global economic growth this year would be the weakest outside of a recession since 2008.
with Reuters