BCA Chief Executive Bran Black interview with Laura Jayes, AM Agenda, Sky News

29 January 2025

Event: BCA Chief Executive Bran Black interview with Laura Jayes, AM Agenda, Sky News
Speakers: AM Agenda, Host Laura Jayes; Business Council of Australia Chief Executive Bran Black
Date: 29 January 2025
Topics: Pro-business policies, skills gaps, Paris Agreements

E&OE

Laura Jayes, AM Agenda Host: Joining me now is the Chief Executive of the BCA, Bran Black. Bran, great to see you.

Since we last spoke, Happy New Year, by the way, Trump is well and truly back in the White House. He's unashamedly pro-business. Before we get to the nitty-gritty of it all, what can we learn here in Australia? What would you like to see either Peter Dutton or Anthony Albanese adopt when it comes to the approach to business?

Bran Black, Business Council Chief Executive: Thanks Laura and Happy New Year to you as well.

Look, I was fortunate enough to spend a little bit of time in Washington towards the end of last year, and what was absolutely plain then, and what has become even clearer now is that an administration that presides over a country that is already incredibly productive and incredibly competitive in terms of its settings, its intent on being even more productive and competitive.

And for us, that's a wake-up call. It means that we need to think about what we can do here in Australia to try and attract the investment that we need to grow our economy and provide for the future.

Laura: But what do we need to do, because this has been the conversation for many years now, now with Trump back in the White House, I mean those things that we need to talk about probably should have been done years ago. So what's number one on the list?

Bran: So there are a couple of key things. If you look at some of the key announcements that President Trump has made, they provide a bit of a guide in terms of what we should be looking at too.

If you take taxation, the company tax rate in the United States is sitting at 21 per cent at the moment. That's versus our 30 per cent. We have the third least competitive company tax rate in the OECD. So there's already quite a significant differential.

President Trump is proposing to reduce that rate down to 15 per cent. When the US last reduced its company tax rate, we saw an outflow of capital from Australia to the US. If you were to see a further reduction in the company tax rate in the US, we'd see that again I dare as well. And that means we've got to think about our tax settings.

Deregulation is also important. President Trump's talked about having a very active deregulation agenda. Ten regulations out for every one in, by way of example. He's also said that he would prioritise and fast track approvals for projects in the United States valued at over $1 billion. That forces us to get our skates on in terms of what our own deregulation agenda should be, what we can do to reduce approval times, to make sure that we're not subjecting businesses to regulations that are just unnecessary.

Laura: It would be remiss of me not to point out that America also has individual state taxes as well. Places like California have particularly high ones for business. So is it comparing apples with apples when you talk about a 15 or 21 per cent?

Bran: Well we also have state taxes here in Australia as well. Of course, we've got stamp duties and we've got payroll taxes, and they're pretty significant imposts on business as well. And of course, there are state-based royalties that are payable, certainly in relation to mining. So I think whilst the tax mix might not be identical, the situation is very similar.

Laura: Okay, well, let's talk about some of the solutions here, because when we talk about the workers that are needed, of course, they are needed within the housing space, and you're talking about clean energy as well. How many of these jobs can be filled by Australians, or will there need to be a significant amount of, you know, skills that we import from overseas?

Bran: Look, it's a great question, and it is really difficult to put an exact figure on the particular point that you've raised, but we know that there are certain gaps that we certainly do need to address.

So for instance, if we're talking about the Federal Government's five year target with respect to housing, that's 1.2 million homes over that period. It's been projected that we need an additional 80,000 people working in the construction sector.

If you're talking about the clean energy economy, Jobs and Skills Australia has said there's about 38 different occupations in that space, and by 2050 we'll need another 650,000 people in that area.

Our priority should always be to produce the skill sets that we need here in Australia, from within Australia, that should always be our focus. But to your point, I think we need to have an open mind about skilled migration programs because if our experience right now is anything to go by, we've got these significant skills gaps. We know that we need to fill them in order to be able to proceed with economy-promoting, productivity-enhancing programs and investments. So for us to do that, we've got to be looking at all of the options that are on the table.

Laura: Okay, let me ask you one more question about Donald Trump, because he, on his first day, in fact, signed an executive order saying the United States would pull out of the Paris Agreement.

I asked David Littleproud about this earlier in the week, he says, no, Australia shouldn't do it, because it will essentially mean that we'd have – it would hurt exporters, particularly farmers. Some within his party, like Matt Canavan, don't agree, and says the cost would be minimal. What's the Business Council's position on what we should do with Paris?

Bran: We're very supportive of sticking with our commitment to net zero by 2050, sticking with our commitments with respect to the Paris Accord. We know that there are going to be challenges and different situations that we need to work through as a consequence of negotiating what we see out of a new administration in the United States, and you'd see that in the course of any change of administration in an economy such as that.

Laura: But what's the case if the United States is pulling out? What's the case from a business perspective, why should we stay in Paris?

Bran: Well, I think there are a couple of key things that I point to in that respect. First, we believe that there is an imperative to transition to a low-emissions economy. We think that that is intergenerationally the right thing to do. That's the first point that I'd make.

The second point that I'd make is that we know that there are other trading partners, for example, the EU that do place a premium on countries that are in a position as we are to make these types of transitions. So to the point that's been made by both political parties, it is in Australia's interests to remain in the Paris Accord and remain committed to net zero, and we support that.

Laura: Bran Black, great to have you back on board for 2025. It's going to be quite a year as well. An election just around the corner, we’ll be speaking to you regularly, I suspect. We'll see you soon.

Bran: Thanks Laura. I suspect you're right. Thank you.

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