National Australia Bank chief executive Andrew Irvine has issued a rallying cry to the nation’s business leaders and policymakers, urging them to drop any complacency and fear about the future and take action to fix the productivity bottlenecks plaguing the economy.

In front of about 400 of the bank’s business customers at a NAB event in Melbourne, Irvine called on the audience to embrace artificial intelligence, despite fears over jobs, to drive productivity and economic growth.