Time to fix the Australian economy

The Australian economy has been hitting a brick wall for years, bogged down by bureaucracy and indecisiveness. Policies are bundled together only to be reversed just as quickly as they were thought up. A political agenda from one party or another always seems to bring good reform to its knees. The business community is left with red tape and uncertainty; a sledgehammer to growth and innovation. Private investment in business is the lowest it’s been in 20 years as a percentage of GDP.

Our economy was in trouble long before COVID-19 but the disruption of the pandemic offers opportunity for renewal and reform. Let’s put partisanship aside and give business something concrete to work with.

Reform to consider:

• Get rid of state taxes such as stamp duties and payroll taxes.
• Invest in digital. Our ICT sector is half the size of our global peers as a percentage of GDP. Business has been asking for tech investment for 20 years. The sky is still the limit with future growth in the tech industry.
• Invest in new business and innovation. We have 30% less new business registrations than we had 2 decades ago.
• Invest in our youth. Business is desperate for skilled labour and yet 1 in 3 young Australians are underemployed.
• Reform Australia’s national workplace relations system. It’s over complicated and out of date, stifling labour productivity growth.
• Generate a long term climate policy and stick with it. We’ve seen 15 years of climate policy uncertainty leading to cost hikes, business growth and innovation reduction, all at a cost to our environment.