The Business Council of Australia (BCA) welcomes the opportunity to provide this submission on the upcoming budget.

The BCA recognises there is considerable effort needed to transition Australia’s economy from one characterised by heavy intervention and a large government footprint to one led by private sector investment and ingenuity.

Only private-led activity will help lift productivity, drive sustained growth, create high-paying jobs of the future, and help repair the Budget over time. Indeed, the key to a stronger Australia is growing the economy more quickly through faster productivity growth.

This objective should be combined with a renewed focus on fiscal discipline and improving the quality of government spending.

But, however willing we are to make this transition, our progress is being impaired by heavy regulation, acute labour and skill shortages, and a tax system unfit for purpose that does not incentivise investment, innovation and hiring. Moreover, the drivers of economic growth are not yet sufficiently diversified.

There is much to do. The upcoming Budget presents a golden opportunity to remove the barriers preventing Australia from moving to the frontier of global economic performance.

Read the full submission here.