The Prime Minister has called on business groups to stop "virtue signalling" and to focus on the main game. Hear, hear! And not before time. For too long business peak bodies have concerned themselves with symbolism and ignored economics. It’s time to get real.

Private sector growth has been flat or in recession for the past 12 months. Private sector productivity growth is at record lows. But much like the Morrison government, business peak bodies remain hung up on symbolic fights about the corporate tax rate and union power when Australia’s system of dividend imputation and 9 per cent private sector union density make such issues irrelevant at the macroeconomic level. Even Treasury’s modelling of the company tax cuts showed benefits that looked more like rounding error than real reform.