Anthony Albanese's Government to convene at roundtable to hatch plan to propel Australia into stronger future

West Australian

a day ago

Business groups are cautiously optimistic about a productivity roundtable Treasurer Jim Chalmers will host but will head in eyes wide open after feeling like they were burned by the outcomes of Labor's first-term jobs and skills summit.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Tuesday the Government would convene the roundtable in August to hear ideas from all quarters about how to tackle stagnating productivity and propel Australia into a stronger future.
'We want to build the broadest possible base of support for further economic reform to drive growth, boost productivity, strengthen the budget and secure the resilience of our economy, in a time of global uncertainty,' he told the National Press Club in a speech laying out his second-term agenda.
'We will be respectful. We want people to participate in the spirit of goodwill in which we're making this suggestion.'
Dr Chalmers has labelled flatlining productivity one of the biggest challenges Australia faces.
He's already tasked the Productivity Commission to do a sweeping review of how best to tackle the long-run challenges, with 15 priority areas now under closer exploration.
Business groups have welcomed the focus, with Ai Group chief executive Innes Willox lamenting the fact boosting productivity was barely mentioned during the election.
'Current policy settings at both national and state levels are clearly not working. This summit is therefore ideally timed, and needs to focus on immediate reforms that can promptly turn our productivity performance around,' Mr Willox said.
But there is caution after the September 2022 jobs and skills summit was used to rubber-stamp industrial relations changes that industry says are now hampering productivity.
Mr Albanese said that, as a Labor prime minister, he would always support unions existing but he respected the role of business too, pointing out there wouldn't be any union members without successful employers.
He insisted he wasn't pre-empting any outcomes but wanted genuine discussion around where there were win-wins on productivity.
'I want people to be able to have a discussion … without screaming headlines saying, you know, this is going to happen because someone has raised it,' he said.
Business Council of Australia head Bran Black said his organisation was already working with groups across society on ideas to boost productivity in order to drive up living standards for Australians.
'These policies include red tape reduction, faster approvals on major projects, harnessing the potential of AI, advancing research and development, undertaking broad tax reform, unlocking more trade and investment and delivering the energy transition,' he said.
'At the same time, we will continue to be very clear about policies that the business community believes will be counterproductive to improving productivity.'
Shadow treasurer Ted O'Brien and shadow productivity minister Andrew Bragg said the proposal sounded like a talkfest and came after the Prime Minister had 'saddled the economy with thousands of new regulations in the last Parliament'.
'If this change of heart by Labor is true, it will be akin to turning around the Titanic,' they said in a joining statement, while insisting they were open to being constructive.
Senator Bragg has already written to major industry associations seeking suggestions for deregulation as the Coalition shapes its policy agenda in the new term.
It's unclear yet if the Coalition will be invited to the roundtable.
HOUSING
A key sector where the productivity stagnation is hurting Australians is housing, where the slowdown in construction has led to a supply and affordability crisis.
Mr Albanese said plainly it was 'too hard' to build houses and governments had to work together to make it easier.
'Developers say that it's just too complex, (that) adds to costs as well,' he said, taking aim at 'unnecessary regulation'.
'I want to make sure that housing is fit for purpose and all of that. But if we can cut through on some of the red tape, then that will reduce costs.'
Across the board, governments had to do the basics better, target duplication of processes and remove barriers to investment.
But Mr Albanese also said there were some challenges where governments had to step up, not back, such as speeding up infrastructure builds and investing more in education and skills.
DEFENCE
Mr Albanese travels to Fiji, the US and Canada later this week for the G7 leaders' summit and an anticipated meeting with US President Donald Trump.
Ahead of the expected discussions, he has faced repeated questions about Australia's spending on defence after the Trump administration made it clear it wants its partners to step up.
The Prime Minister has resisted nominating a target level of GDP but insisted on Tuesday he would always support any requests for more money for specific capabilities.
'Arbitrary figures … lead to a cul-de-sac. And we want to make sure as well that every single dollar that Defence spends results in actual assets,' he said.
'We will always provide for capability that's needed.'
He reiterated his red lines in any discussion with Mr Trump, saying he wouldn't budge on the under-16s social media ban, biosecurity, subsidised pharmaceuticals or plans to make large tech companies pay for news content.
POLITICAL CULTURE
Mr Albanese also urged people to 'chill out' about old social media posts made by aspiring political candidates.
He revealed Labor doesn't go through its candidates' old posts, saying it was up to individuals to be accountable for what they had said or done in the past but also there had to be a recognition that the world had changed with the advent of social media.
'If people are held to account for what a 21-year-old has on social media in 10 years' time, then we won't have anyone willing to put their hand up in public life,' he warned.
'I understand the pressures that young people are under, which is very different from the pressures that were on (older generations)... I wouldn't particularly appreciate everything being documented when I was in young Labor, let me tell you.'
Mr Albanese said he was focused now on delivering what Labor had promised people at the election because he believed ensuring people's interactions with government went smoothly was key to boosting faith in democracy.
To aid this delivery, he announced Steven Kennedy would move from Treasury to head up his department while Jenny Wilkinson, who has been running the Finance Department, will become the first female Treasury secretary.
He pledged to continue a consultative style in Parliament, revealing he had already met with new Opposition Leader Sussan Ley and Nationals leader David Littleproud.
'We have 94 votes, but that actually doesn't make a difference compared with 78 – because 78 wins and 94 wins (in the lower house),' he said.
'You don't win bigger, you win, you pass legislation.'