Danielle Wood appointed new Productivity Commission boss

The appointment of the first woman to lead the Productivity Commission comes after Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews poached the previous appointee just weeks out from starting the job.

New Productivity Commission chairwoman Danielle Wood. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

Danielle Wood has been appointed as the first woman to lead the Productivity Commission, after Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews poached the previous appointee just weeks out from starting the job.

Jim Chalmers on Wednesday made the surprise announcement that his hand-picked candidate, Chris Barrett, had backed out at the last minute to become Victoria’s Treasury secretary.

Ms Wood has been chief executive of independent think tank Grattan Institute for the past three years, and the Treasurer said she was “an outstanding economist and a public policy ­expert of the highest calibre”.

Ms Wood said in a statement: “The Productivity Commission has been a hugely important organisation to me personally – it’s a privilege to be returning and an honour to have the opportunity to lead it at such an important time. I’m excited for the opportunity the PC has to look at new ways and new ideas to boost productivity and build prosperity for Australia in the years ahead.”

Ms Wood has also worked as director of merger investigations at the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, a senior economist at NERA Economic Consulting, and a senior research economist at the PC.

Dr Chalmers said Ms Wood and Mr Barrett had been the two leading candidates identified in the initial search to replace out­going chair Michael Brennan.

“I really look forward to working with Danielle in our efforts to renew and revitalise and reform the Productivity Commission,” the Treasurer said.

“I want to broaden and deepen the PC’s work so that it’s well placed to provide robust advice in a changing global economic landscape.”

Opposition Treasury spokesman Angus Taylor on Wednesday offered bipartisan support for the last-minute appointment, saying he had “great respect” for Ms Wood.

“I think she’s done a lot of good policy work over a long period of time, and whilst I haven’t agreed with it all, I’ve always been happy to listen to her points of view on important policy issues,” Mr Taylor said.

The Albanese government sees the Productivity Commission’s orthodox approach to productivity prescriptions as hostile to core Labor principles, especially in the area of industrial relations, and it effectively dismissed the commission’s most recent five-year productivity review.

Ms Wood gave the keynote address at Labor’s Jobs and Skills summit in September last year, and in that speech noted that a lack of competition had sapped the economy of dynamism, as she bemoaned industry lobbying in Canberra.

Reflecting economic orthodoxy, Ms Wood has argued in favour of removing distortionary taxes such as stamp duties on property transfers, and against “overly restrictive land-use planning laws”.

Ms Wood has also said that to put the budget back into better shape, the commonwealth should undo the overly generous GST distribution deal with Western Australia, and include more of the family home in the pension asset test.

Tax “leakages” should be plugged by trimming superannuation concessions, reducing the capital gains tax concession, and limiting negative gearing, Ms Wood has said.