BCA Discourages Political Point Scoring

Transcript of comments by BCA President Michael Chaney to ABC Television’s Lateline Business program regarding the BCA’s reform standards for the 2007 federal election.

17 April 2007

The Business Council of Australia (BCA) fears the future prosperity of Australia will be jeopardised if the federal election campaign is filled with point scoring aimed at buying votes.

Ali Moore: Big business has called on the Government and Opposition to address what it calls the big issues in this year’s election campaign. The Business Council of Australia believes the country’s future prosperity will be threatened if the campaign is filled with short-term political point scoring.

Andrew Robertson, Reporter: The Business Council of Australia represents the top 100 companies which employ more than a million people. Many of its members compete on the global stage and they’re concerned the election will distract both sides of politics from what they believe is their real job – to keep Australia prosperous and competitive.

Michael Chaney, Business Council of Australia: Standing still simply isn’t an option because the finishing line of reform keeps going further forward. The debate is not really about whether we should continue the reform journey, it’s all about how we do it and at what speed.

Andrew Robertson: Mr Chaney has unveiled the benchmarks by which the business council will evaluate the Government and the Opposition as the election approaches. It includes improved political debate, rationalising the roles of federal and state governments, better infrastructure including the development of the high-speed broadband Internet network, continued tax reform, raising educational standards, and tackling climate change.

Michael Chaney: Addressing climate change effectively means a transition from a high emission global economy to a low-emission economy. That’s a huge undertaking that really requires considered policy planning and action. It’s essential that political parties in this election get the fundamentals right.

Andrew Robertson: A key issue in the election campaign will be work place reform, a process Michael Chaney noted was started by the Hawk and Keating Labor governments. Mr Chaney says it’s vital that process continues and he’s scathing in his criticism of the ACTU-led campaign against the Howard Government’s work place changes.

Michael Chaney: I think suggestions that people sit around in boardrooms and work out how to sack people and re-employ them on lower figures – on lower salaries is completely dishonest. Anyone who’s had anything to do with running a business knows one thing very clearly – that is if your business is going to prosper you have to find all sorts of ways, any way you can to motivate your employees, to nurture them, to look after them.

Andrew Robertson: And while Kevin Rudd today announced policies he hopes will win support for Labor in the business community, Michael Chaney’s message to Mr Rudd on the union’s anti-WorkChoices campaign was simple.

Michael Chaney: If Kevin Rudd and the Labor Party want to develop a strong relationship with business, which they say they do, I think they should be condemning those advertisements.

Andrew Robertson: The Business Council believes if politicians move away from politicking and embrace visionary policy Australia could be one of the top five OECD economies within five years.

Transcript sourced from www.abc.net.au/lateline/business