Speakers: ABC The Business, Host Kirsten Aiken; Business Council of Australia Chief Executive Bran Black
Date: 3 March 2026
Topics: International uncertainty, BCA Global Investment Competitiveness Index, productivity
E&OE
Kirsten Aiken, Host: The Chief Executive of the Business Council of Australia, Bran Black, joins me. Welcome. First, to the war in the Middle East. How concerned is business about the events transpiring there and the hit to global oil supplies?
Bran Black, Chief Executive: Well, firstly, I think I have to say, what is on everybody’s mind in a time like this, when there is war and there’s conflict, you just can’t help but think about the people who are directly affected, and that’s incredibly sad.
There are implications that go beyond those civilian consequences, and you, of course, reference the economic implications for us, we see that there is a real challenge. And the key point that I’d make there is we just don’t know the full extent of what that challenge will be.
If the war goes on for a longer period, then the consequences of having the Strait of Hormuz closed, the consequences of an ongoing conflict, are very difficult to articulate with any degree of certainty.
What we would say is that what that does for Australia is really back in the importance of trying to control those things that are within our scope to control. So that is the key economic levers that we can pull. That’s why we’re pleased to have launched our index for competitiveness today.
Kirsten: I’m going to get to that, but is the business sector concerned that Australia is holding just over one month’s worth of diesel, jet fuel and petrol reserves currently onshore or on ships coming to Australia? How vulnerable is the economy if oil supplies from the Middle East drop dramatically or stop altogether?
Bran: Well, in those types of circumstances, it’s difficult to say what the consequences would be. Of course, it would be incredibly concerning if we were to see some type of sustained challenge to our capacity to import oil. Of course, that would be very concerning.
But I think at this stage, it’s just difficult for us to be able to say with any certainty what we’re likely to see as a consequence of the war. We do hope that the war is resolved quickly, and it just goes back to that point that where we can control the things that are within our scope to control, we should.
Kirsten: Now Bran, ahead of the budget in May, you are highlighting the economy’s growing pains and some challenges in particular, you did just mention that the BCA has been looking at a few of them. Can you highlight what you found?
Bran: Yes, certainly. So, we’ve released today the BCA’s Global Investment Competitiveness Index, and what that does is rank Australia against 41 other competitors. And what we see is that we’ve done particularly well in some key areas like trade.
And what that shows is that where we apply ourselves and where we really strive to do well, we do, and that’s really pleasing, but at the moment, we rank 21 out of 42, so we’re slap bang in the middle of the pack.
And what we say is that if we can apply ourselves with respect to areas where we don’t do so well, like taxation and regulation, if we can apply ourselves in the same way that we do on trade, then Australia has the scope to really climb up those rankings. We need to see that, because this is a global race for capital. It doesn’t matter the global circumstances, it’s a race, we’re in it, and we want to win.
Kirsten: You sat alongside the Treasurer at last year’s Productivity Roundtable. What appetite is there for corporate tax reform?
Bran: Well, I can tell you, from the time that I had in the roundtable that I know the Treasurer is absolutely committed to trying to drive productivity reform. It is very much a slow burn, indeed, the Productivity Commissioner has described it as a game of inches. We entirely
agree with that characterisation.
We’ve seen some steps that the Government’s already taken. We know that they are looking to further reform the FIRB system. We’ve seen action with respect to the housing codes. Of course, we’ve seen the Government move on EPBC reform, now there’s more work that needs to be done to turn that into a productivity plus.
But my point is simply that there is action that is starting to come. We do need to see much more and directly to your question in terms of taxation, what we have shown with our report, we’re ranked in tax, 38th out of 42. We certainly can’t afford to go backwards, we’ve got to start trying to find ways of improving our ranking.
Kirsten: The size of the Labor Government’s win at the last election means it does have the political capital to enact change. Do you think it is a harder task for the Government to do so because of the level of government support now in the community?
Bran: I think it’s a really good question, and what it goes to is, I think, the need for really honest conversations about some of the challenges that we have in Australia. You know, we look at the challenge of our demographics, and according to the Intergenerational Report that projects that we’ll have a revenue to expenditure gap as a consequence of proportionately less people working and proportionately more people not working and living longer lives, come 2060, that’ll be about $140 billion a year. So we’ve got to start addressing those points now.
Kirsten: Bran Black, thank you.