Julia talks BlackBerrys on innovation while business leaders talk iPhones

JULIA Gillard started her dialogue with business leaders yesterday with a simple example to illustrate why it was so important that Australia innovate to stay successful - something her government is acutely aware of, apparently.

The Prime Minister said she remembered reading an article recently about how the mobile phone company that produces BlackBerry devices had suffered a market share fall from 80 per cent to 10 per cent because it hadn't kept pace with the burgeoning iPhone market.

In short time, BlackBerry went from being a market leader to an also-ran. Australian businesses must be vigilant not to make a similar mistake, she said.

The irony is that the federal government continues to hand out BlackBerrys instead of iPhones to parliamentarians. The bureaucracy hasn't caught up with the latest technology.

Is there a better example of why business leaders find the slow-moving bureaucracy of government frustrating to deal with?

Yesterday those around the table were polite, just as the Prime Minister was at her charming best, as she so often is in small-circle environments (a warmth the public rarely gets to see).

But too often Gillard's language was BlackBerry while business leaders were talking iPhone.

Gillard stood by her government's approach to industrial relations. Michael Chaney firmly argued that the dial had been turned too far in one direction: Australia needed more flexibility within the IR system to stay competitive and innovate.

Gillard argues that the National Broadband Network is emblematic of her government's approach to long-term planning. Wesfarmers chief Richard Goyder isn't convinced politicians of all political stripes do enough long-term planning. His worry is that the short electoral cycle dominates thinking in Canberra.

One thing everyone seemed to agree on was the idea that the opportunities of the mining boom and the emerging Asian century - despite challenges along the way - were exactly the kind of problem a prosperous nation wanted to have when other parts of the world such as Europe were struggling. It's just that how best to take advantage of that opportunity is highly contested.