Federal election 2016: business united for Turnbull economic agenda

The nation’s peak business groups will throw their weight behind Malcolm Turnbull’s economic agenda today.

ACCI chief James Pearson says ‘we need bipartisan backing for business and for the company tax cut’.

The nation’s peak business groups will throw their weight behind Malcolm Turnbull’s economic agenda today by mobilising up to 300,000 employers to fight for policies that lift growth, reshaping an election contest dominated by Labor’s spending promises on health and education.

More than 70 industry groups will back the policy crusade today in a bid to sharpen the election focus on budget repair and tax reform, along with a call to help young Australians get into good jobs by reversing an alarming fall in the number of new apprentices.

Australians will be urged to back proposals to boost growth while being warned against big-spending proposals at a time when the commonwealth is spending $1.1 billion every day while only raising $1bn in taxes to pay for it.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry will launch the policy blueprint in Sydney with the support of its 70 member groups and their 300,000 business members, the biggest ­alliance of employers in the country. The group’s policy agenda throws strong support behind Mr Turnbull on a cut in the company tax rate that will cost $48.2bn over a decade, as Bill Shorten tries to block the tax relief going to any employer with turnover of more than $2 million a year.

ACCI chief James Pearson told The Australian: “We need bipartisan backing for business and for the company tax cut. A business with a turnover of $10m is not big business. We don’t want a two-tier tax system and believe the eventual target of 25 per cent, for businesses of all sizes, is what the country needs to stimulate investment to encourage growth and to generate more jobs.”

Mr Turnbull tried to shift the election battleground to economic management yesterday by labelling Mr Shorten “billion-dollar Bill” because he was promising heavy spending without offering a plan for the economy.

“They have a series of grievances and complaints,” the Prime Minister said of Mr Shorten and his Labor colleagues.

“They want to spend more here, spend more there. Everything we have ­depends on a strong economy and Australians know every policy of ours is going to drive economic growth. Labor has nothing to say on that except spend, spend, spend — another turn on the spend-o-meter by billion-dollar Bill.”

Challenged on whether he had an answer on economic growth, Mr Shorten said: “Labor’s plan for economic growth is jobs, education, Medicare, renewable ­energy, fair taxation, access for first-home buyers into the housing market. Our economic plan is all about fairness.”

While the mention of Medicare as an economic growth plan raised eyebrows, Labor Treasury spokesman Chris Bowen said the party’s growth policies included a proper national broadband network and support for renewable energy, a manufacturing transition, innovation, infrastructure and investments in schools.

“The government’s only policy on the table is giving a tax cut for big business that will have a negligible impact on Australia’s nat­ional income and is based on flawed modelling which doesn’t account for the economic cost of slashing funding for the nation’s schools,” Mr Bowen said.

ACCI is mounting the campaign amid worries about education and job prospects for young Australians, prompting the employer groups to support the government’s internship program to help welfare recipients aged under 25 gain employment — derided as “slave labour” by unions. “Without immediate and effective action on youth unemployment, we risk consigning many thousands of young Australians to the fringes of the economy,” Mr Pearson said.

“Unfortunately, opposition from the union movement runs the risk of derailing the program, despite support from business and leading social welfare groups. I call on the union movement to work with us, and government, to put the plan into practice.”

ACCI members, including ­industry groups in building, mining and tourism, will follow today’s launch with a series of events with businesses throughout the election campaign as well as social media promotions to reach voters.

The policy message will also be sent by direct mail to up to 300,000 member businesses of the 70 industry groups that are formally aligned with ACCI.

Warning that Australia is falling behind other nations on global measures of competitiveness, ACCI will call for tough action to cut red tape and more flexibility in workplace relations so that ­employers can negotiate individual agreements with workers without unions involved.

The stance on industrial relations challenges Mr Turnbull to tackle difficult reform even though the Prime Minister has made it clear there would be no return to the Work Choices policy that triggered an electoral backlash against John Howard and his government in 2007.

ACCI’s priority reform is to reverse a steep fall in the number of apprentices and trainees from 516,000 to just 295,000 over four years. “A strong apprenticeships and traineeships system ensures our workforce has the skills it needs for the jobs of the future,” the business group says.