On the eve of The Australian Financial Review Business Summit two weeks ago, our editorial warned that after two decades without any serious policies to revive national productivity, Australia faces a future of mediocre national growth spelled out in the grim 2023 Intergenerational Report.

The IGR forecasts that average annual GDP growth will slump to 2.2 per cent over the next 40 years against the 3.1 per cent of the past 40. Australians’ children and grandchildren will still be better off, but not at the pace of rising prosperity that they and their parents experienced. It should be shocking for a nation which sets such store upon its world-envied standard of living.