Yesterday
Chalmers urged to overhaul CGT discount on housing
Labor for Housing says savings from reforming CGT could be used to scrap GST on goods and services used to build, maintain and manage state public housing.
Is AI making you stupid?
Access to generative AI can certainly lighten the mental load but the impressive short-term gains it affords may come with a hidden cost.
Australia must regulate AI for productivity growth, not just for risk
What’s needed now is a policy framework that empowers markets while safeguarding customers. One that encourages innovation, rather than simply fearing disruption.
This Month
Penalty rate push undermines productivity summit
A bill enshrining penalty rates in law will be among the first through parliament next week, but is at odds with the government’s productivity goals.
Big miners fear tax increase from Chalmers’ roundtable
Resources companies are nervous that next month’s meeting with business, unions and policymakers will target mining and energy to pay for cutting other taxes.
Chalmers bets on AI to revive stagnant economy
It’s imperative that informed voices in the tech industry play a role in advocating for policies that can boost investment, infrastructure and deployment.
Who’s invited to Chalmers’ economic reform roundtable
Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ economic reform roundtable next month will help set the government’s agenda. Here’s a full list of who’s known to be invited.
AI revolution is Lucky Jim’s chance to boost public sector productivity
The roundtable is a chance for Australia to pick a side between leaders making the most of the technology and those that have effectively banned it.
Roundtable screams of Chalmers’ style, but where’s the substance?
The treasurer is pushing big ideas and expectations for his economic talkfest in August. The practical results are much less certain.
The 3 intergenerational challenges Chalmers’ roundtable must fix
If the government wants true long-term productivity gains, it can look to three areas that happen to be where the intergenerational compact is most broken.
The roundtable needs to be Labor’s ‘Nixon in China’ IR moment
Labor needs to challenge its policy and political orthodoxies on workplace regulation to fix the nation’s economic malaise.
Ken Henry’s not calm, he’s seething. And with good reason
For a bloke whose every utterance on tax is regarded as holy writ, Ken Henry is equally dismissed by many of those same economic adherents as “a wombat lover”.
Cochlear CEO calls for tax shake-up to boost R&D
Cochlear chief executive Dig Howitt has urged the government to abolish the $150 million expenditure threshold to boost business innovation and investment.
Climate trigger ‘should be considered’ for major projects
In the absence of a carbon tax, new project approvals should be assessed on their impact on the climate, says Ken Henry.
Chalmers’ reform summit will be 3 days of nothingness
The meeting will end in the usual whimper with a fleeting sideways glance at productivity, where business groups have already capitulated.
Ken Henry says you should be half-a-million dollars richer
Australians have lost $500k in pay rises over the past 25 years because of the economy’s abysmal productivity, says former Treasury boss Ken Henry.
Bloated government clashes with Labor’s business-led growth hopes
Unless there is a fundamental mindset shift by Labor, the private sector will remain stuck in the doldrums, and we will retain an inflated, government-led economy.
Ken Henry’s top reform: the environment, not tax
Revamping Australia’s broken environment laws will do more for our ailing productivity than tax reform, the former Treasury secretary says.
Yoghurt’s tax-free, unless it’s frozen: Calls grow to fix the GST
CSL chairman Brian McNamee says myriad carve-outs mean “half the economy” isn’t captured, while Woolworths says compliance is a big burden for business.
Productivity dragged down by government, NDIS jobs boom
Four in five jobs created in the past two years are in industries heavily influenced by government spending and regulation, Labor has been warned.