If the government wants September’s Jobs and Skills Summit to reboot Australia’s prosperity in a difficult post-pandemic and energy-challenged age, then Prime Minister Anthony Albanese needs to be much clearer in what he wants to achieve from a sprawling meeting that will bring together governments, business, unions and community groups.

The summit must be about growing the economic pie for all Australians, through policies that revive stalling productivity and economic growth. It needs to accept the reality that global inflation will squeeze Australian living standards in the short run, even with the luck of the nation’s strongest ever terms of trade.