Speakers: AM Agenda, Host Laura Jayes; Business Council of Australia Chief Executive Bran Black
Topics: Regulation Rumble, energy supply, EPBC reform
E&OE
Laura Jayes, AM Agenda Host: Bran Black joins us live now, he’s the Chief Executive of BCA. So, Victoria is the worst place to do business in Australia. Why Bran?
Bran Black, Chief Executive: Well, good to see you, Laura. Thanks for having me on. Look, what we do with our rankings is look at those metrics that we know matter to businesses, and that’s what they tell us. So we look at two key areas, planning and we look at cost regulation.
Now, on the planning side of things, Victoria actually does reasonably well. In fact, it moved up a spot, and that largely came down to the type of initiatives that it’s got in place, such as its activity centre program, but where it really falls down is in terms of its costs and regulatory settings.
So specifically, in relation to payroll tax, stamp duty and business licensing in those areas, Victoria was really uncompetitive, and that’s why it has that last ranking on our annual Regulation Rumble,
Laura: Right, this is what Jacinta Allan had to say about your report last year, and she hasn’t seen this report, but these were her comments.
[Excerpt plays]
Jacinta Allan, Victorian Premier: I’m yet to see the report from the Business Council. I know the last time the Business Council released a report on Victoria, it was wrong and out of date. The Business Council have a record of not understanding what’s important to businesses and working people here in Victoria.
[Excerpt ends]
Laura: Bran, she was pretty fired up there. What do you have to say to that?
Bran: Well, we do know what matters to business and what matters to business in Victoria is the same as what matters to business right around the country, and that is having quality settings in place with respect to regulation and with respect to planning.
And our message is that whilst, as I mentioned before, Victoria has moved up a spot in relation to planning, there is a lot of work that it needs to do in terms of its costs and its regulatory settings. I think the figures speak for themselves.
In 17 of the last 18 months, Victoria has led the country in relation to unemployment, and if you look at business investment, up until June of this year, which is the most recent metric that we’ve got, Victoria went back 1.5 per cent against the national average of moving forward point six of a per cent.
Laura: Right, so you’re in South Australia, this was ranked the best place to do business, absolutely and then Tasmania, second. South Australia has tried really hard to attract more business there.
Outside of, you know, Sydney and Melbourne, that’s the preferred place for, you know, big companies to have their headquarters there. Is there, you know, something in the rankings that shows us, you know, these states really wanting to change that balance?
Bran: We do see states and territories wanting to change their position. I know that, because in the lead up to these rankings, and certainly post them, I get lots of queries from state treasurers and often from premiers themselves, saying, ‘Well, look, this is where we ranked this year. What are the types of settings that we need to change in order to move ahead in the rankings next year?’ And that comes through quite a bit, I must say.
But the point that I would make is that these settings are considered on a even basis right around the Commonwealth, in every jurisdiction. So we assess them point by point, and we come to a view in terms of which state takes which position, which gives everybody the opportunity to move ahead if they wish to.
Laura: I just quickly want to ask you about net zero as well. This is something that the Liberal Party will be debating. It’s somewhat of a proxy leadership issue for Sussan Ley as well.
There’s a bit of history here with the BCA and your support of net zero and the way in which to get there. What is your message to the Liberal Party going into these meetings this week?
Bran: Well, look, we don’t comment on the politics of this. Our position, though, from a BCA perspective, is simply that we favour having that target of net zero by 2050, but we say we’ve critically got to make sure that we deliver it affordably and reliably. We’ve got to make sure that along the journey we take a keen eye for Australia’s competitiveness too.
What all of that means for me is that we have to concentrate on making sure we’ve got a very clear plan. A big part of that is looking at the settings around the EPBC reform, which is presently being considered by the Federal Parliament, that is going to be very significant in the context of our capacity to deliver the major projects that are required in order to deliver on this transition and to do that, we’ve got to make sure we get the settings right.
Laura: Are the settings right at the moment? How far off do you think we are?
Bran: Well, there’s certainly areas in which we do want to see improvement. Of course, we’ve spoken at length, there’s been a lot of public discussion with respect to unacceptable impacts and the powers of the EPA.
But the point that I would make is that we really need to see overall, at the end of the day, that there isn’t just a net benefit for the environment, there has to be a net benefit for business relative to the existing settings. And that means looking very seriously and very closely at the streamlined approvals process, and it means making sure that we can deliver state accreditation to administer the federal scheme as assessors and approvers. That’s absolutely critical.
Laura: Absolutely, the regulatory settings. But it even shows how hard it is for business. Look at this failure of this Waratah battery, a massive project north of Sydney, and it’s had major problems with their transmission. Does that demonstrate how difficult it is, even for the private sector without those settings?
Bran: There are enormous challenges associated with this transition. We’ve had commentators describe it as one of the most difficult things that humanity will ever have to do.
But one of the key things that we would note is that, certainly in the context of the Waratah battery, what that points to is the need to deliver more supply, and in order to get that supply, we’ve got to get those settings right, especially around the EPBC, but we’ve also got to have the skillsets, we’ve got to have the people with the capacity and the capability to deliver on these large and many infrastructure projects, and that’s also a challenge.
We know, for instance, that we’ll need another 60,000 odd electricians and electrical engineers by 2030 alone.
Laura: Bran, always good to talk to you. Thanks so much.