PM Anthony Albanese faces CEO reform pledge test at business roundtable

Business leaders have demanded Anthony Albanese delivers a broad reform package at August’s roundtable. ‘Of course the PM should be worried … Why would we want to be the 15th or the 16th or the 17th of anything?’ asked Paul Schroder.

Myer boss Olivia Wirth speaks at Australia’s Economic Outlook forum. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

Business leaders want Labor’s reform roundtable to be open to a broad set of tax and workplace changes as Anthony Albanese pledged to reverse decades of flatlining productivity and follow through on his vow to lift the economy.

The Prime Minister has said he would try to gain the “broadest possible base of support” for economic reform at the August meeting as Labor juggles leaders from unions, business and community groups amid pressure to develop a more ambitious second term agenda.

Myer executive chair Olivia Wirth said it was vital the government did not set “a prescriptive order” for the roundtable. Some business leaders are still wary of last term’s Jobs and Skills Summit, which largely rubber-stamped policies endorsed by unions.

The top-flight gathering “has to include everything from workforce reform to general issues around tax reform,” Ms Wirth told the annual Australia’s Economic Outlook event in Sydney on Friday presented by Sky News and The Australian.

From left: Eric Johnston, associate editor, The Australian; Myer executive chair Olivia Wirth; Ed Kitchen, managing director ANZ of Uber Eats; and Crown Resorts CEO David Tsai. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers / The Australian

An “open debate and discussion that the government is going to be open for all ideas, including from the business community, but also from other important drivers of the economy. I think that is probably what’s required,” she said.

Australia is in the midst of its worst labour productivity levels on record, falling 1.2 per cent in the last year and with average productivity growth over the past decade limping along at the lowest level in 60 years.

Mr Albanese said the summit was designed to address big structural issues that went beyond the “24-hour media cycle”.

“It’s not about the next week or even the next year. It’s about how does Australia position ourselves for future growth. And part of that has to be productivity … which has basically flatlined for decades. It isn’t something that’s emerged just since we came to government. It’s been there for a long time. And we want to have a dialogue and we think it’s a useful time early in the term.”

AustralianSuper chief executive Paul Schroder said the country should be worried about whether it was competitive enough with rival advanced economies.

“Of course the Prime Minister should be worried and I thought it sounded like he was. Why would we want to be the 15th or the 16th or the 17th of anything? Why wouldn’t we want to be great at it.

“We’re great at mining, we’re great at banking, we’re great at super, and we’re good at swimming,” he concluded.

The Prime Minister said he had not given “any consideration” to raising the GST and lowering income tax, but was a “supporter of progressive taxation”.

“But if people want to put forward ideas, we’re not saying these are the conditions.”

Mr Albanese clarified: “I always want to see income taxes as low as possible and wages as high as possible.”

The Business Council of Australia has demanded initiatives including cutting red tape, undertaking broad tax reform, unlocking more trade and investment and delivering the energy transition.

With the Reserve Bank due to deliver its interest rate decision next week, Ms Wirth said consumers were struggling with cost of living pressures.

“It’s pretty tough out there at the moment. There’s been a lot of discussion around the core indicators across the Australian economy improving. But from a consumer perspective it’s pretty tough and it’s patchy, and we’ve seen that for some time,” Ms Wirth said.

“Discretionary income isn’t where it has been previously. Whilst there has been some talk around improvements across the board, I think the consumer is still doing it tough, and it is patchy, and we have a while to go until we see some significant improvement.”

Crown Resorts chief executive David Tsai said the top end of the market was holding up as consumers indulged in spending on premium goods even if the broader economy remained uneven.

“The trends that we see in entertainment sometimes are slightly nuanced from retail goods in that when there’s cost of living pressures, discretionary spending becomes more discretionary,” Mr Tsai said.

“What we usually see is that the premium experiences tend to hold up stronger than the more casual commodity type experiences.”

Uber Australia wants to see a bolder reform package by the Albanese government including policies boosting autonomous vehicles as it seek to fast-track technological trends sweeping transport.

“There’s an explosion of autonomous tech and self driving technology, particularly in the US, but also the Middle East and Europe,” Ed Kitchen, managing director for Uber in Australia and New Zealand told the CEOs panel.

“We would love to work with the government to set the regulatory pathways in traffic to enable that here in Australia in the decades to come.”

Following the election, the ­Albanese government has moved swiftly on pro-industry decisions including extending the operating life of Woodside’s North West Shelf gas project, supporting ­bigger data centre capacity, seeking a detente with business chiefs and accelerating Labor’s legislative and regulatory approach to artificial intelligence.

Uber’s local boss said artificial intelligence will not “take jobs” but companies which can best harness the technology will profit.

“The people who can leverage AI really effectively are the ones that are going to succeed,” Mr Kitchen said.