Let business help in vaccine rollout, says BCA’s Tim Reed

Business Council of Australia president Tim Reed has urged the federal government to push ahead with plans to get the country vaccinated, offering business help to achieve the task.

Business Council of Australia president Tim Reed. Picture: Gary Ramage

Business Council of Australia president Tim Reed has urged the federal government to push ahead with plans to get the country vaccinated, offering business help to achieve the task if needed.

Speaking at a dinner in Sydney on Monday night hosted by the BCA and attended by Scott Morrison and 400 business leaders, Mr Reed warned that the task of tackling the virus was “far from complete”.

He praised the federal government for its handling of the pandemic, including backing its decision to withdraw the JobKeeper supplement as the economy recovered.

Mr Reed congratulated the Morrison government for its work “to underpin the Australian economy in 2020” with policies that had seen unemployment fall to 5.6 per cent, with workforce participation rates at an all-time high and job ads at a 12-year high.

But he said it was important that Australia moved to get its population vaccinated, offering the support of the business community to get the job done.

“Thank you to your government for the huge amount you contributed to our nation,” he told the Prime Minister at the first major gathering of business leaders in Australia since the start of the pandemic last year.

“But the task at hand remains far from complete. We have to ensure we continue to keep our citizens safe. We have to get the nation vaccinated.

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“With over a million people still unemployed, we have to continue to drive economic growth by predictably reopening our economy.”

Mr Reed said the Business Council was prepared to continue to work with the government “on all fronts — keeping the pandemic at bay, getting our nation vaccinated”.

“Many businesses stand ready to be involved in that process when and wherever it is useful,” he said.

His comments follow those of National Australia Bank chief executive Ross McEwan to a parliamentary inquiry on Friday, saying that the bank was happy to assist with the rollout of the vaccine, particularly when it came to encouraging the bank’s staff to get vaccinated.

Mr McEwan said large employers like NAB could help with the rollout of the vaccine. “We would be happy to do so at the right time,” he said.

Mr Reed said reopening the economy was important “to continue to drive [economic] growth”.

His comments come as business has been surprised at the strength of the economic recovery, but is pushing the government to move ahead with plans to open up the borders and accelerate the vaccine rollout.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison (left) and President of the Business Council Tim Reed arrive at the Business Council of Australia. Picture: AAP

Several business leaders, including former Dow Chemical chief executive Andrew Liveris and some in the travel industry, have expressed their concern at the slowness of the vaccine rollout and Australia’s heavy focus on only two vaccines: AstraZeneca and Pfizer.

But Mr Reed made it clear that the BCA backed the government’s decision to drop the JobKeeper payment, announced at the start of the pandemic and paid to employers whose business had suffered as a result of it, to fund wages payments to staff.

“May I congratulate you on staying the course to withdraw the JobKeeper and on increasing the weekly JobSeeker payment,” he said.

“While very much needed at the time, JobKeeper was an emergency measure that will have to be paid for by future taxpayers.

“With the economic recovery now well under way it is, in our opinion, the right time to remove such support.”

Mr Reed also signalled that the BCA was committed to encouraging the acceleration of the move towards decarbonising the economy, with a goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

While not specifically mentioning federal government policies, he said the BCA was committed to encouraging greater investment in “projects that transform our economic base, including accelerating decarbonisation, allowing us to not only achieve net zero emissions by 2050 [but also] creating new, clean, export industries.”

Mr Reed said the BCA was also keen to encourage the government to do more in the May budget to improve the economic security of women, including improved financial assistance for childcare and better paid parental leave.

He said it was important that Australia began focusing on policies for the long-term benefit of the country as it emerged from the pandemic.

He compared the current situation in Australia to that in the US towards the end of World War II.

“While president [Franklin D.] Roosevelt was primarily focused on the war, there remained a constant view in his administration that there was no point in winning the war if there was not a better country for their servicemen to come home to than the one that they had left,” he said.

He said business was ready to help the government ensure that “Australia comes out of this crisis, a freer, fairer, safer and more sustainable nation”.