By Katie Lahey Chief Executive Business Council of Australia Two decades ago, then Prime Minister Bob Hawke promised to tackle front-on the problem of excessive red tape. He said: “I am convinced that we have accumulated an excessive and often...
By Richard Humphry Chairman, Business Reform Task Force Business Council of Australia Australia’s record growth and prosperity are undisputed. The question is, is it sustainable? Reforms begun in the 1980s have delivered enormous benefits, from substantial improvements in average incomes...
By Rod Pearse Chief Executive, Boral Chairman, BCA Sustainable Growth Task Force MUCH has been said recently about how Australia can lock in its economic success. The country's outstanding economic performance during the past decade has delivered enormous benefits. Substantial improvements...
By Michael Chaney Chief Executive, Wesfarmers Vice President, Business Council of Australia IT is easy to take for granted the prosperity that Australia has enjoyed for more than a decade and to fool yourself into thinking that we can sustain that...
By Michael Chaney Chief Executive, Wesfarmers Vice President, Business Council of Australia IT is a given that any proposed changes to Australia's workplace relations laws will provoke a strong and often emotional response. Perceptions of a them-and-us divide between employer...
By Hugh Morgan President Business Council of Australia THERE'S a real urgency in economic reform. Through tax payments, jobs created and goods and services provided, corporate Australia has made a magnificent contribution to the welfare of Australians. Corporations employ directly...
The Age By Katie Lahey Chief Executive Business Council of Australia Business concern over red tape is a perennial issue – a bit like farmers complaining about the weather. But Australian businesses large and small have been hit by such...
By Rod Sims Director, Port Jackson Partners Limited Author, Reforming and Restoring Australia’s Infrastructure for the Business Council of Australia The infrastructure debate started in promising fashion. Pushed along by the queues of ships waiting to load coal at Queensland’s...
By John W.H. Denton Partner and Chief Executive, Corrs Chambers Westgarth Chairman, BCA Trade and International Relations Task Force As residents of a small, open economy that is not a natural member of any major trading bloc, all Australians have...
Edited summary of comments made by Hugh Morgan, President of the Business Council of Australia, to the Monash University conference, Riding China’s Boom, in August 2005. China presents an excellent trading opportunity for the Australian economy, but we cannot afford...