The Business Council has identified the critical resets needed to diversify our economy and maximise opportunities in the industries of the future. 

Resetting industry policy in Australia starts by asking ourselves:

• What are we already good at?
• What can we be good at?
• What must we be good at?

Having an outward looking orientation, rather than focusing on how industry and industry policy serves domestic markets, is the key to success. We must acknowledge that being globally competitive is the only way to secure high paying jobs in Australia.

Driving the creation of high wage, high productivity jobs and a more diverse economy, requires industry policy to be stable and focus on:

• getting the macroeconomic settings right to drive productivity
• having an investment mindset, not a focus on grants
• coordination and facilitation to get the necessary scale and focus
• starting with a focus on frontier industries and capabilities, not individual businesses
• competitive advantage and where capabilities extend between industries
• enabling a collaborative approach between industry, researchers, and government
• driving innovation and the use of new technologies, and
• building up sovereign capabilities.

Supporting or subsidising sovereign manufacturing or services – rather than focusing on trying to subsidise uncompetitive industries – should be confined to:

• reducing any overreliance on a single supply chain or market
• improving our security where we can’t do without them, or
• the foundational areas where a capability is needed for success.

You can read the full report here.