Raise the GST, and Cut Personal and Company Tax to Support Growth

A switch in the tax mix to reduce personal income and company taxes and make greater use of the GST will encourage investment and offer greater incentives to working Australians.
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Patient-Centred Health Reform

It’s not who pays that’s important, it’s about getting more value and better service, writes Katie Lahey in The Australian.
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G20 Role Needs Greater Clarification

The Group of 20 has the potential to provide the leadership needed for a new era of global co-operation and stability.
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Australia Must Learn from the Crisis

Our challenge is to learn from the economic crisis – and to make our prosperity more sustainable and accessible to more Australians, Graham Bradley writes.
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League Tables Will Improve the Education System

The one outcome from education reform that matters most is improvement in student learning. This means the learning of relevant knowledge and skills by students in all schools, writes Hutch Ranck.
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How We Can Use Technology to Improve Productivity

The Business Council of Australia places high importance on the effective use of (ICT) by our businesses, governments and households as a driver of future prosperity.
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Stronger Plans Are Needed to Ensure Gender Parity

It defies belief that, in a sophisticated and modern country such as Australia, we are even talking about paying a woman the same amount as a man for a day’s work – it should already be long-established practice.
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APEC Should Heed Signs of the Changing Times

APEC is important to Australia’s interests and is an influential institution for economic dialogue and policy, writes John Denton in The Age.
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Time to End Haphazard Approach to the Basics

If good infrastructure is the groundwork for economic growth, Australia’s recent economic growth has been built on shaky foundations, writes Rod Pearse in The Australian Financial Review.
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Infrastructure a Key to Populate and Be Prosperous

We can sustain the higher population that has been predicted as well as economic growth but only if federal and state governments reform their infrastructure policies, writes Rod Sims in The Australian.
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Political Uncertainty on Emissions Will Cost Jobs and Investment

Bipartisanship is the key to addressing two key areas of uncertainty relating to Australia’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, writes Katie Lahey.
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That’s No Way to Treat Patients

Health care should be reformed to empower the user with transparency, urges Katie Lahey in The Australian.
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Real Trade Reform Begins After Doha

Trade liberalisation is the missing piece of the global policy response to the financial crisis and recession, writes John Denton in The Australian Financial Review.
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G20 the Right Body for Economic Leadership

The group has proven itself the best forum for its times, writes John Denton in The Age.
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Keeping Tabs on Infrastructure Effort

More can be done to ensure that expensive projects will make a real contribution to national productivity, writes Rod Pearse in The Australian Financial Review.
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Second-Track Diplomacy Aids Foreign Policy

The private sector can improve Australia’s relationships abroad, argues John Denton in The Australian.
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The Planet Needs Both Sides

The emissions trading scheme must not come at the cost of competitiveness, writes Greig Gailey in the Herald Sun.
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Reject Devilish Detail in Carbon Laws

Legislation should not be approved until the scheme’s design is resolved, argues Greig Gailey in The Australian.
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Prepare to Share Pain

The government must tighten its belt and let the private sector grow, urges Greig Gailey in The Australian.
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Plans Must Be Shovel Ready

This is the right time to fix the problems with Australia’s system of economic infrastructure, and to start delivering the better infrastructure we know we should have, writes Greig Gailey in The Australian.
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Keep Politics Out of Emissions Solution

The government and Opposition must work together to find the best solution to climate change, writes Greig Gailey in The Australian Financial Review.
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Industry Role Vital to Recovery

If the G-20 is going to truly promote recovery, it must anticipate the responses of the global business community, writes John Denton in The Australian Financial Review.
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Productivity the New Focus

Behavioural changes are crucial to new workplace laws, writes Greig Gailey in The Age.
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Push Aside the Fog and Close the Gap

The Business Council of Australia has a multifaceted social impact, writes Greig Gailey in The Age.
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A Plan to Improve Our Schools Is on the Table; Now Governments Must Act

The COAG education agreements are a vital first step in which our education future can be changed for the better, writes Hutch Ranck in The Age.
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States Can’t Let Feds Carry All the Economic Load

Taxation and spending policies should align between state and federal governments, writes Greig Gailey in The Age.
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Driving Business Offshore Is No Carbon Solution

Establishing a scheme that simply shifts emissions elsewhere benefits neither the environment nor the economy, Katie Lahey writes.
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Women in Leadership: Interview with Katie Lahey

Could quotas be part of the answer to increasing the number of women in senior management and leadership roles? BCA CEO Katie Lahey discusses the dilemma.
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• Katie Lahey discusses the dilemma of female underrepresentation in business leadership roles (MPEG, 1MB)

It’s Time to Rethink Trade Talks

As we pick over the bones of the failed Doha Round, it can be easy to forget the reason 153 countries gathered together in the first place, John W.H. Denton writes.
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Innovative Ideas Needed to Boost Business

If Australia is to keep up with the world then businesses and research groups must work together, writes Hutch Ranck in The Courier-Mail.
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Devil in the Detail of Climate Plan

We should be under no illusion about the size of the task or that there is a quick fix to reducing Australia's greenhouse emissions, writes Greig Gailey in The Sydney Morning Herald.
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Devil in Detail of Getting ETS Right

The economic realities should not be forgotten in an emissions trading scheme, writes Greig Gailey in The Age.
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Respond to Carbon with Care

An emissions trading scheme must not weaken the economy, Greig Gailey writes in The Australian.
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Growth Key to Emissions Plan

Business will provide the base for the successful move to a low-emissions economy, argues Greig Gailey in The Age.
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• Australia’s Emissions Trading Scheme: An Opportunity (speech)

Holistic Review Is the Holy Grail

Australia needs a thorough analysis of taxation’s role in the economy, writes Robert Milliner in The Australian Financial Review.
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Region Holds Key to Our Prosperity

A new framework to enable investment in the region is needed, writes John W. H. Denton in The Australian Financial Review.
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Give Our Teachers Lures and Rewards

The present teaching system won’t get top results from teachers or students, writes Katie Lahey in The Age.
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A National Perspective to Benefit All

The renewal of Australia’s infrastructure and reform of infrastructure markets are two of the key challenges the federal government must address, writes Rod Pearse.
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Boldness Will Put Us on Top by 2012

Everything should be on the table when it comes to tax reform, urges Greig Gailey in The Australian.
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Better Education Tops the List

Future prosperity rests on the success of the school system, writes Angus James in The Australian Financial Review.
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We Can Make a Difference in East Asia

There’s a new role for Australia in regional engagement, writes John W. H. Denton in The Australian Financial Review.
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Essential Reform That Time Forgot

From a business perspective, Australia is not one market, it is nine, Greig Gailey writes in The Australian Financial Review.
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• Download the ‘seamless economy’ paper

It’s a Different Economy, Stupid

We need to re-think federal budgets to avoid frittering away our prosperity, argues Greig Gailey in The Australian.
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• BCA Budget Submission 2008–09: Budgeting for Prosperity

Budget Gives the Government a Golden Opportunity to Reform Fiscal Policy

Given the outlook for inflation, strong discipline is needed now, writes Greig Gailey in The Age.
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• BCA Budget Submission 2008–09: Budgeting for Prosperity

Unwieldy System Must Go

Op-ed by Tim Cox, PricewaterhouseCoopers Tax Partner, on the need to reform business tax, as published in The Australian Financial Review, 29 November 2007.
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• Tax Nation: Business Taxes and the Federal–State Divide

A Time to Improve Social Prosperity

In a real sense, Australia’s hardest economic challenges are just beginning, Katie Lahey writes in the Herald Sun.
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• New Thinking Needed to Find Jobs for Those Who Want Them (news release and paper)

Make Sure We Don’t Waste Our Wealth

In the midst of so much prosperity, it is easy to overlook the many Australians who continue to confront a vastly different reality, Michael Chaney argues.
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• Growing Social Prosperity in a Growth Economy

These Are Good Times, But Not for All

Economic reform must continue so all can join in Australia’s prosperity, writes Michael Chaney in The Age.
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• Growing Social Prosperity in a Growth Economy

Need to Rethink Employment Policy

Australia needs all hands on deck to tackle lower growth prospects, op-ed argues.
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• Engaging our Potential: The Economic and Social Necessity of Increasing Workforce Participation

Be Prepared for Emissions Trading

Business cannot afford to sit back and wait for the scheme to start, writes Katie Lahey in The Age.
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Infrastructure Is a Road Half Travelled

World-class infrastructure won’t happen without competitive national markets, rational pricing and more private ownership, op-ed argues.
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• Infrastructure: Roadmap for Reform

Opportunity Too Good to Waste

Enabling investment and trade among its members should be APEC’s top priority, writes John W.H. Denton.
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As Business Fills Canberra’s Coffers, We Need to Move on Tax Reforms

Despite Treasury indicators of a strong economy, this is no time for complacency on tax reform, Katie Lahey argues.
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• Time to Review the Dead Weight of Australia’s Business Taxes (news release)

Injection of Facts into the IR Debate

By debunking union myths about workplace reform, business groups are fighting a threat to the economy, argues Michael Chaney.
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A Commodity Just Too Valuable to Miss the Export Boat

Australia’s prosperity depends on providing services to the world, writes IBM’s Glen Boreham.
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National Approach to Water

Nature can only do so much to alleviate water shortages; the rest is up to us, writes Katie Lahey in The Courier-Mail.
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