Competitive Advantage: Leaders call for long-term policies

Influential company directors have called for politicians to focus more on the long term during election campaigns.

Journalist John Durie, Sam Mostyn and David Gonski at the forum. Picture: Hollie Adams

Two of the nation’s most influential company directors have called for politicians to focus more on the long term during election ­campaigns, with Citigroup Australia chair Sam Mostyn warning that daily point-scoring was ­“ridiculous”.

In a stinging critique of the level of debate, Ms Mostyn said campaigns “and particularly a long one, tend to get so binary quickly”.

“I would love to see a campaign where we actually thoroughly unpack the long-term issues confidently, without rancour, without blame, and trust that the electorate can actually make a sensible decision,” she told yesterday’s Competitive Advantage Forum.

The rallying cry was backed by ANZ and Coca-Cola Amatil chairman David Gonski, who said “long-termism is very important for this country”.

READ MORE: Competitive Advantage Forum

Ms Mostyn, who is also a director of Virgin Australia, Transurban and is an AFL commissioner, said there was a “very smart electorate” that “doesn’t need talking down to”.

“It’s just that the pressure of a campaign means that every day there’s almost a score of who won the day. Well, for voters, that’s ridiculous,” she said.

Asked whether that was happening now, Ms Mostyn said: “I think you get some of it sometime.

“You get pictures of it, and then something will happen that’s completely out of the ordinary and has nothing to do with the policy that derails a day’s worth of discussion on an important topic, whether it’s education or renewable energy or whatever it might be.

“And that’s what is disappointing: the short-term pressure into a political cycle, the lack of a long cycle for us to vote into.”

The comments come as business leaders become more vocal in arguing for company tax cuts. Former deputy prime minister Mark Vaile has called for captains of ­industry to show more support for reforms during the election ­campaign.

While economic management is a fundamental issue in the campaign, there have nevertheless been concerns raised about populist policies and promises pitched at marginal seats.

Mr Gonski said that while the political class knew how to run elections, “I think we as business people have to start to look further out”.

“We have to educate people to look further out and hopefully also that will transmogrify itself into election campaigns that are longer,” he said. Ms Mostyn also said the community could face “another short period of a parliament federally”, drawing a contrast to a four-year stable environment “where good policy can be pursued”.

That echoes calls by other well-respected directors — including former NSW premier Nick Greiner, Australian Institute of Company Directors chief executive John Brogden, formal Boral boss Rod Pearse, NBN and Perth Airport director Shirley In’t Veld, and the chair of the government’s Commission of Audit, Tony Shepherd — for fixed four-year parliamentary terms. The heavyweight directors also made the case for foreign investment, while NSW Premier Mike Baird told the forum that he “unashamedly” welcomed foreign investment as it was crucial “in order for your economy to survive”.

“It’s very easy to run scare campaigns and popular scare campaigns as part of this, but we have to be considered,” Mr Baird said.

“We have to combat that, because our ability to survive and thrive in a global economy is directly linked to it, and the free trade agreements that we’ve run are an essential part of that.”

Last month, Treasurer Scott Morrison said his preliminary decision was to veto a foreign bid for the nation’s largest single landholding, the S. Kidman & Co cattle empire, by a company backed by Shanghai billionaire Gui Goujie.

As the government is now in caretaker mode, that decision is on hold.

While this means the Kidman property is not an immediate election issue, Opposition leader Bill Shorten last week said he was uneasy about the opaque and “rushed nature” of the government’s approval process.

Mr Baird said the government should not necessarily support “every” foreign application as “there is a whole range of considerations in the national interest”.

Resources Minister Josh Frydenberg said that foreign investment was “indispensable” to the growth of the economy but pointed to moves by other treasurers to block major foreign investments, such as Peter Costello’s blocking of Shell’s attempt to take over Woodside.

Mr Frydenberg said the government had toughened the system where it was weak, including tightening the rules over state and territory asset sales in the wake of criticism over the lease of Darwin Port to Chinese-owned Landbridge.

“So I think there’s an unequivocal message out there. Foreign investment is good for Australia,” he said.

Mr Frydenberg also talked up the importance of trade between Australia and India, saying a free-trade pact with India was “the next FTA we need to capture”.

The Coalition has already secured free trade agreements with China, Japan and Korea.

Talks for a free-trade pact with India started in 2011, aiming for an FTA by the end of 2015, without success, but the government had re-energised the talks.

On the issue of what Australia could learn from Asia, Mr Gonski pointed to a fear of failure here and said there was a need “to be bold in our thinking”.

“We basically put people in a sin bin forever — and I’m not saying, by the way, if somebody is fraudulent or whatever that they shouldn’t be — but if somebody gives it a go, as we call it in Australia, I don’t think they should be in a sin bin if they’re not fraudulent, they do the proper thing but it doesn’t work,” Mr Gonski said.

The government has proposed a “safe harbour” in insolvency laws.