"The Prime Minister's decision to convene a productivity summit in August marks a welcome focus on addressing the real challenges facing Australia's productivity and investment performance," said Innes Willox, Chief Executive of national employer association the Australian Industry Group.
"Since the pandemic, and even before that, Australia's productivity performance has been woeful. With productivity the ultimate wellspring of national and individual wealth and prosperity, we cannot afford to let it slide sideways for another five years.
"Unfortunately, the need to raise productivity was rarely mentioned during the recent election campaign. 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.
"Lifting productivity will come through more efficient use of the tools we have at our disposal. Areas such as tax, regulation, skills, energy, workplace regulation, trade, technology adaptation and infrastructure development are all key to our productivity uplift and well-being.
"If we continue to let our productivity levels flatline, we are dooming our economic narrative to be one about managing decline rather than embracing the opportunities that can come from a national focus on sustainably lifting living standards for generations to come.
"It is also critical that this tripartite summit focus on getting private sector investment moving again. Our economy and labour market has been unsustainably reliant on government spending for a prolonged period now. The rate of business investment is at a two-decade low given domestic sentiment and global uncertainty. We need to create the conditions for private sector investment to rise materially and urgently if productivity and growth are to get back on track.
"The Australian Industry Group welcomes the Prime Minister's recognition that 'the public sector should facilitate private sector activity and private sector investment'. Too often we have seen government spending crowding out the private sector, and excessive regulation stifling business productivity.
"This Summit will provide an opportunity to work on getting our key policy settings on the right footing to meet the economic opportunities Australia now faces. It cannot be a set and forget exercise. Rather it should be the start of a sustained national conversation about working together to build an economy for the future," Mr Willox said.
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