Speaker: Geoff Culbert, President of the Business Council of Australia

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It’s a pleasure to be back here as President of the BCA, co-hosting this evening with the AFR.

Thank you very much to my BCA board colleague Matt Comyn, and CBA, for having us here tonight.

And thank you for the introduction, James.

When I took on the Presidency of the BCA this time last year, I thought we were facing two significant headwinds.

First, there was a lack of recognition of the long-term economic challenges facing our country, despite what all the data was telling us.

And secondly, there was a lack of recognition of the role played by business in addressing those challenges, and worse still - big business was being blamed for some of those issues, which was distracting from the core underlying problems that needed to be solved.

I thought we were in negative cycle – it was concerning to me – and many others for that matter – and it needed to be addressed.

I used this speech last year to start talking about the need for an honest national discussion about where we stood as a country, and the economic challenges we faced.

I talked about the need to create an environment where businesses are encouraged to grow and take risk.

I talked about how red tape and regulation was strangling business – small, medium and large – and how that was hurting our competitiveness and productivity.

And importantly, I talked about the need to make business part of the solution, rather than casting it as the problem.

It hasn’t been linear, and there have been some interesting moments along the way, but as I stand here today, one year on, I do think the discourse has started to improve.

Importantly, over the past six months I think we’ve seen increasing acceptance and agreement on the economic challenges we face and must solve.

Challenges like productivity and GDP growth. I don’t need to restate the numbers. We all know them, and we all understand the urgency.

If you spoke about productivity a year ago people would just tune out – but now it’s finding its way into the national conversation and being spoken about across all sides of politics – by the Government, the Coalition and numerous independents.

This evolution – this change in the conversation - matters because you can’t fix a problem if you don’t think you have one.

The other positive shift we’ve seen is the narrative relating to business.

It probably got worse over the first half of last year, but over the last six months we have seen the Government, the Coalition and a number of Independents regularly acknowledge the value of a private sector-led economic growth agenda.

In the words of Treasurer Chalmers:

“We see a powerful and pre-eminent place for the private sector in the future we will build together.”

In the words of Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor, we must accelerate:

“a broader economic agenda that supports businesses.”

And in the words of Independent MP Allegra Spender:

“Business is not the enemy; business is the source of our greatest opportunities.”

This is a meaningful and positive shift in the way business is being spoken about by our most powerful and influential political leaders.

It’s important that we acknowledge that.

And it’s also important that I acknowledge the role played by many of the business leaders in this room and beyond, together with the thoughtful, consistent and economically rational commentary of the team at the AFR, that has contributed to this shift.

The chorus of voices—the weight of numbers—matter.

It isn’t always easy to speak up, and it can come with risk.

But if enough people are repeatedly saying the same thing – people who are widely respected and deeply experienced – it starts to cut through.

And it is starting to cut through.

But don’t get me wrong – I’m not standing up here declaring victory – I’m not that naïve and we are a long way from that.

But when you have our political leaders acknowledging the economic challenges we face, and acknowledging the critical role that business plays in fixing those challenges, you have a platform for change – which I don’t think we had this time last year.

The next step, which lies ahead of us, is to translate the words into action on policy and reform that will meaningfully address the issues.

We are probably less than six weeks out from an election and the early read suggests we are looking at a campaign that is big on spending and light on economic policies of substance.

I’m talking about policies that will build a stronger, more competitive and more productive economy. One that can bring more opportunities to more Australians.

I think I speak on behalf of all business leaders in this room when I say we stand ready to lead this – we stand ready to work with the government to, in the words of the Treasurer, build the future together.

I don’t think there’s a single CEO in Australia who, given the choice between investing a dollar in Australia or overseas, or creating a job in Australia or overseas, wouldn’t choose Australia—all other things being equal.

But things aren’t always equal, and they’re becoming less equal given the state of domestic and global geopolitics.

If we are going to have a private sector led recovery in productivity, growth and competitiveness we need to keep having candid conversations about what is really required in order to make that happen.

And this conversation will need to continue long after the election, regardless of who wins.

The policy positions being put forward by the BCA, both over the past year and in the lead up to the election, are all framed though that lens:

How do we make Australia as productive, competitive and attractive as possible as a place to invest and do business?

Not just for the benefit of shareholders, but for the benefit of all Australians.

We’ve focused heavily on the Big 5 questions that are front of mind for all Australians:

• How do we ease cost of living?

• How do solve the housing crisis?

• How do we realistically transition to net zero?

• How do we develop a skilled workforce for the future?

• How do we pay for and deliver the health and care services Australians need?

Over the past few months, we have been releasing our policy ideas that address these questions.

These are policy ideas that are informed by our real-world experience - as leaders of companies that seek every day to compete domestically and internationally in a very competitive world.

As leaders of companies that seek every day to run profitable businesses that can create jobs, grow wages and build wealth.

And it would come as no surprise to anyone that they address issues such as reducing red tape, speeding up approval processes, delivering reliable low-cost energy, developing a skilled workforce, creating an efficient IR system, creating a competitive and broad-based tax regime.

All of these contribute to solving the challenges around productivity and growth that will define the future success of our economy.

None of these are particularly groundbreaking, but they do require political will, and they will take time.

I don’t have high expectations for the election in this regard, but the issues that need to be solved will live beyond the result of the election and will only become more acute.

If Labor are re-elected, I think everyone accepts it will come with a message that they must do more in their second term to solve these big issues.

If the Coalition win, the honeymoon will be short - these issues will become theirs to solve on day one.

And if we end up with a minority government - and that’s looking increasingly likely - the needle will become harder to thread.

But the issues won’t go away, and we’ll need to continue to make the case for sound economic policies of substance.

And we’ll also need to put a lot of effort into ruling out populist policies that will make the challenges of productivity and growth even harder.

Things like super taxes that will only serve to drive jobs and investment offshore.

The daydream of a gas free energy transition.

Blunt caps on migration that will make the skills challenge worse.

Heavy handed regulation that will stifle innovation and investment.

Further regression on IR.

And the perception that the answer to every problem is more government spending.

We’ll also need to keep reminding policy makers that business is not the problem, but a key part of the solution.

None of this will be easy.

But I do believe we are in a better place than we were last year. We are being more honest about the challenges facing our economy, there is more widespread recognition of the critical role played by business in solving these challenges, and the overall dialogue with policy makers is better.

Many of the people in this room have played an important role in that shift. I thank you for that, but we must continue to make the case.

Let me end by saying this – I think we are now at a point where the electorate understands the need for significant and durable reform over hand-outs and sugar hits.

They want a bigger and bolder vision.

They want to break the cycle of short-term politics and they’re ready to engage in a proper conversation around sound economic policies of substance.

The time is right for anyone who wants to run on that platform.

And the BCA, and the broader business community, will continue to make the case for that – both through the election and beyond.

Thank you.