Anthony Albanese’s victory comes at a time when the global economy looks shaky. Photo: Anthony Albanese Facebook.
The Business Council of Australia (BCA) has congratulated the Prime Minister on his re-election and hopes for a term of government focused on a big issue – productivity.
The BCA announced that it was keen to work with the government at a time when the Australian economy faced numerous challenges.
“I congratulate the government on its election victory and confirm business stands ready to roll up its sleeves and assist in working through the biggest challenges facing our nation,” BCA chief executive Bran Black said.
“This Parliament must prioritise a productivity agenda that unlocks investment and growth in the private sector, which is ultimately the only way to sustainably boost living standards and lift real wages.”
The BCA’s urge for a productivity focus comes the same day as Treasurer Jim Chalmers spoke on ABC’s Insiders about his productivity agenda.
“We commissioned from the Productivity Commission five big pieces of work on the main drivers, the main pillars, of productivity in the economy,” Mr Chalmers said.
“We’ve got an agenda on productivity but we can do more and we will do more.
“The best way to think about the difference between our first term and the second term that we won last night: the first term was primarily inflation without forgetting productivity; the second term will be primarily productivity without forgetting inflation.”
Mr Chalmers then outlined that human capital, competition policy, energy, technology and the care economy were the areas where the government would look for productivity gains.
The BCA has previously supported the government’s actions on enhancing trade and leveraging the federal balance sheet to support productivity agendas from the states.
The council has laid out its Big Five priorities for this term of government: increasing skills, boosting housing supply, improving living standards, sustainable health services and an affordable path to net zero.
“Business is at the heart of the solution to each of our greatest challenges and opportunities – with six out of every seven workers employed by the private sector and 80 per cent of Australia’s economic output coming from businesses of all sizes,” Mr Black said.
