Mining and manufacturing bosses have backed property developer Tim Gurner’s claim workers have taken their foot off the gas pedal since the pandemic – comments that went viral and sparked a fiery response from Canberra to Washington.

A video of Mr Gurner speaking at The Australian Financial Review Property Summit on Tuesday attracted millions of views on the social media site X (formerly known as Twitter), and drew strong criticism from both sides of politics, including from prominent US Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.