Speakers: BCA President, Geoff Culbert
**Check against delivery**
Thank you, Bran.
And welcome everyone here tonight. It’s great to see you.
Let me start with a few acknowledgements.
First, I’d like to welcome the Prime Minister, the Treasurer, and all the Ministers who are here with us tonight.
I’d also like to welcome the Shadow Treasurer, Ted O’Brien.
This is an important event on the BCA calendar, and we appreciate you all making the time to be here. And I must say, from the outset, that we have appreciated the level of engagement from the Government over the past 12 months.
The Prime Minister, the Treasurer – and indeed all the ministers here tonight – have always made themselves available. Our discussions are always respectful and productive, and we very much appreciate that.
I’d also like to acknowledge my colleagues on the BCA board.
Over the past twelve months, we’ve welcomed three outstanding new directors:
Meg O’Neill, the CEO of Woodside.
Vicki Brady, the CEO of Telstra.
and Robin Khuda, the founder and CEO of AirTrunk.
I’m probably a little biased, but together with our other board members—Matt Comyn, Karen Dobson, Danny Gilbert, Kellie Parker, Rob Scott and Mel Silva—I think we have one of the most capable boards in corporate Australia.
It’s important to note that everyone on the board gives their time voluntarily, over and above their day jobs, and each director comes to the table not to further the interests of the companies they lead, but to further the national interest.
And in a year that’s had its complexities, the board has been a generous source of wisdom and support to both me and Bran, and I thank them for their time and effort.
I’d also like to acknowledge that in the room tonight, we have five past presidents of the BCA:
John Ralph.
Hugh Morgan.
Graham Bradley.
Tony Shepherd.
And Tim Reed.
And we have three past CEOs.
Geoff Allen, who was the BCA’s first CEO back in 1983.
Katie Lahey
And Jennifer Westacott.
When I took on this role as President 18 months ago, I knew it would be both meaningful and challenging.
I probably underestimated both.
So, I tip my hat to all past presidents and CEOs of the BCA who have built this institution and shaped the course of policy in Australia over the past 42 years. It’s great to have you here tonight.
Finally, I want to acknowledge our outstanding team at the BCA, led by Bran.
I’ve seen up close how hard they work and the quality of the work they produce.
The BCA is at its best when we are producing works of substance that address the nation’s most critical economic issues.
In a world where there are lots of opinions, we strive to be a substantive voice of reason that governments can rely upon for advice.
We won’t always agree with governments.
That’s not our job.
But we will always engage constructively from a position of substance backed by facts and evidence.
I think that was evident from the quality of reports that we produced over the past 12 months.
From our reports on housing, AI and regulation, through to the reports released just last week on the health and care economies, and climate.
These are reports of material substance that have been very well received – they have included a range of practical and tangible recommendations, and they have helped shape the national debate.
And this is all delivered by a team of just 30-odd people.
That is no small feat.
I don’t think there has ever been a time when the work of the BCA has been more critical.
This time last year, Bran and I felt it was necessary to mount a robust defence of business in an environment where we saw large businesses being blamed for a range of issues that deflected from the real economic challenges we face as a nation.
I’m talking about regulation.
Tax reform
And productivity writ large.
These are complicated, difficult issues that are hard to sell.
But we stayed the course. We kept making the case, we kept insisting on their importance until they cut through.
And these were the very issues that dominated the recent Economic Reform Roundtable.
And I want to repeat what Bran said and give credit to the Prime Minister and the Treasurer for facing squarely into these issues.
It’s not that common for a second-term government to talk about what needs to be fixed.
It’s much safer to talk about what’s going right.
But the first step to fixing a problem is admitting you have one.
To their credit, that’s what the Government has done.
Now that these issues are on the table, we’re only limited by our courage and our ambition.
And we should take confidence in the fact that the Australian public are ready to have this conversation.
The discussion around productivity is a great example. A year ago, if you spoke about productivity people would just tune out. No one wanted to talk about it – now that is completely different.
I loved the line from John Kehoe in the AFR recently when he said, “Every galah in the pet shop is now talking about productivity”.
It’s a great example of what can be achieved, in a relatively short space of time, if the rational voices together, consistently and repeatedly, make the case about why reform is necessary.
The BCA will continue to play its part constructively in this critically important national conversation. As always, we will keep bringing facts and evidence to the table.
And to double down on what Bran said earlier, we will view every issue through a simple lens – any reform must improve Australia’s competitiveness, and it must encourage business investment.
Every CEO in this room, all else being equal, would rather invest a dollar in Australia than invest a dollar overseas. Every CEO in this room would rather create a job in Australia than create a job overseas.
But things aren’t always equal.
Right now, Australia is on the wrong side of the competitiveness equation, and we are losing investment to our overseas competitors. The focus post-Roundtable must be on making Australia more competitive to drive business investment and to raise living standards. That must be the test.
That test leads us to some clear lines in the sand.
Any increase in taxes on business doesn’t pass the test.
Indeed, even the spectre of an increase in taxes makes it very hard to underwrite long-dated projects that need certainty. We need to close down that conversation as quickly as possible.
Any further regression on industrial relations doesn’t pass the test, and winding back some of the recent IR changes that hurt our competitiveness and discourage investment should not be off the table.
Conversely, the discussion around cutting back on red tape and green tape has been very encouraging, and we wholeheartedly support it. We can’t move fast enough on this.
Overall, compared to a year ago, it feels like the conversation has changed, and we are taking steps in the right direction.
A year ago, we were bemoaning the fact that we weren’t facing into our biggest challenges, and we were complaining about the lack of appetite for reform.
Now, there is recognition that the status quo is unsustainable, and we are debating what actual reform looks like.
We have enormous challenges, but we also have enormous strengths.
We have a talented, resilient population.
We have successful businesses that want to invest more into Australia if we can get the competitive settings right.
And we have governments willing to confront difficult truths.
As Bran said, the time for action is now, and we have an important role to play.
The Business Council will continue to bring substance to the national conversation.
We will continue to promote the role of business in creating prosperity.
And we will continue to make the case for the reforms that are needed to secure Australia’s future.
I look forward to working with all of you in the year ahead, and I particularly look forward to continuing our positive and constructive engagement with the Prime Minister and his team.
And with that, it is my great pleasure to introduce the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese.