Leak proves talkfest ‘choreographed'
The roundtable will not happen until next week, and yet a Treasury document showed pre-written advice for cabinet, the ABC reported on Thursday.
Among the recommendations was pausing the National Construction Code, which sets safety and environmental standards for buildings.
The code has been criticised, including by the Productivity Commission, for driving up the cost of construction by imposing overly strict regulations.
The leaked document also recommended a plan to roll out artificial intelligence to process building approvals.
The Opposition Leader said it was clear the government already knew what it wanted from the upcoming roundtable. Opposition Leader Sussan Ley says Labor's economic roundtable is 'choreographed'. Dean Martin / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia
'It's all been lined up, statements are ready to go out,' Ms Ley told Nine's Today.
'People are going there in good faith and they want to see outcomes.
'They want see us growing the economic pie and they want to see Australians pay less tax and be rewarded for their effort.
'I fear that none of those things are actually on the agenda at this productivity roundtable.'
Her predecessor, Peter Dutton, took a 10-year pause on the National Construction Code to the federal election.
Whether the policy remains in line with Ms Ley's vision for the Coalition is unclear.
Further on housing, the Treasury advice recommended measures to streamline housing approvals and reforms to clear a backlog of 30,000 applications waiting to clear environmental hurdles.
The artificial intelligence plan would be key to getting through that backlog.
The focus on housing comes amid widespread expectations the Albanese government will fall short of its pledge to build 1.2 million homes by 2030. A reported Treasury leak shows a list of outcomes from Labor's economic roundtable before it has happened. Martin Ollman / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia
Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth defended the pre-written advice, saying it was normal for Treasury officials to prepare notes based on conversations in the lead-up to the big talks.
'It's not surprising that Treasury would prepare advice to government and, of course, in the lead-up to the productivity roundtable, there has been ministers and other organisations holding a lot of discussions,' Ms Rishworth told the ABC.
'There's been other roundtables led by government ministers discussing some of the challenges and some of the opportunities.'
She added that it was 'a really good opportunity to bring people together and look at the very long term of what we need to do as a country'.
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