The NSW Productivity Commission has published a White Paper setting out a pathway to higher wages and better living standards for the people of NSW along with a reduced State debt without additional taxation.
Entitled Rebooting the economy, the Paper was prepared over the past three years and proposes 60 opportunities to increase productivity by focusing on talent; innovation; housing and infrastructure; and natural resources.
NSW Productivity Commissioner Peter Achterstraat said the White Paper suggested a range of options on how to boost the economy in the face of changing work patterns and altered demographics, both of which were heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Opportunities in this White Paper build on the progress already made, and are designed to realise a broader reform agenda aimed at facilitating the State’s post COVID-19 recovery,” Mr Achterstraat said.
“The Report helps pave the way to delivering a skilled and high-performing workforce to enable us to improve outcomes which will lead to higher wages and better-quality services for everyone,” he said.
“When we improve educational opportunities, from cradle to retirement, reduce road congestion and change the way we commute, we unlock greater efficiencies and improve our citizens’ quality of life.”
Mr Achterstraat said the State had already accepted some of the draft recommendations proposed in the Commission’s 2020 Green Paper with many in the early stages of implementation, including reducing regulatory restrictions for small businesses.
The Commissioner said key opportunities identified in the White Paper included using lessons learnt during the pandemic to harness new ways of delivering education; building new pathways into trades; consolidating and increasing flexibility of employment and industrial zones; achieving better use of the transport network; developing a long-term vision for the water sector; promoting more flexible rules for the use of drones; and regulating to let personal mobility devices and e-bikes fulfil their potential.
The Productivity Commission’s 370-page White Paper can be accessed at this PS News link.
