ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we're meeting and pay my respect to Elders past, present, and emerging. And I thank all of you for not just participating today, but for the work – I actually watched you yesterday, Danielle, the questions, welcome to our world. And the fact that many of you have participated either in the forums that we've had, and we've had more than 40, we've had more than 900 submissions. And what that shows is that there's an appetite for ideas. And we all know here in this room that the job of reform is never done. So, this is an opportunity over the next three days to have your input, have your dialogue with each other as well, as well as with the Government.
And I want to acknowledge the work that Jim's done in putting this together. This was a lot of hard work, I've got to say, has occurred between him. And I want to also acknowledge our officials who work so hard, in PM&C and Treasury and Finance in particular for the work that's been undertaken over the past weeks. We, of course, had a result that we found acceptable on May the 3rd. We have an agenda that we were elected on. It's not the limit of our ambition. And one of the things that I hope defines the Government that I'm so proud to lead is that we're an inclusive government, we are open to ideas from business, from unions, from civil society, from academics, right across the board. The other thing that I hope defines our Government is a newfound respect for the public service, and that we actually want to encourage ideas to come forward. And that is something that will be important as well.
My Government is also, I think, defined by our optimism. I think there's nowhere in the world you'd rather be than Australia with the natural advantages that we have, the access to the best solar resources in the world and one of the best wind resources. The fact that we have everything under the ground that will power the global economy in the 21st century is so important as well. Our greatest asset, of course, is our people. The fact that we have diaspora from everywhere in the world that connects us up in a human way is something that is an enormous asset for us, and something that I find right around the world, wherever I am, there's someone where the connection to Australia. And we shouldn't take that for granted. We should see that as an asset that we can seize. The fact that we're located in the fastest growing region in the world in human history is another great asset. We think about the changes that are really shaping the world today. We have the biggest revolution since the Industrial Revolution with clean energy. We have a revolution that is less certain as well, artificial intelligence and new technology, the impact of that on the nature of work, on the economy and the way that we function as a society as well. The transformation in our region is obviously really critical as well. We did the report, the Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040, that really identified how undercooked we are in places like Indonesia and India and other nations to our north as well. And that's one of the reasons why the business community have played such an important role with the forums. Most recently, the delegation that Bran led to China as well. It was so important for us, our major trading nation, but one in which there enormous opportunity going forward.
So, these three days are going to be really important. It's about recognising challenges, but more importantly it's about grasping opportunity. And that is a big part of our agenda though, is how does our economy become more productive, more resilient as the changes that inevitably occur. So, a big focus, of course, of our Government is on delivery. And this is part – one of the things that you'll focus on, no doubt, over the coming three days is on delivery and how we, for example, in areas like housing, the Government has a big objective, 1.2 million. You don't have a target if you're not going to be trying to get there. We think we can get there. And we can get there by making sure that we remove some of the impediments which are there. How do we identify them, – those impediments aren't just planning, of course, they're skills, they're labour impediments as well – as we go forward. There'll be proposals that – what I've said is three parts, is the way that I'd like to look at the outcomes over the next three days. There'll be things that we can do immediately that Jim and Katy can take to the Cabinet processes in coming days, literally, and say, 'righto, this is a good idea, we can get this done.' There'll be things that feed into our Budget process, including MYEFO at the end of the year, but then the Budget next year. One of the advantages that we had in the timetable – I must say, it was a bit of a relief, I'm sure to Jim and Katy as well as myself, that post May 3, we weren't sitting down and doing a Budget, which is the advantage of doing it on March 25th. But there'll be things that need to feed into that process and then there'll be other agendas. Artificial intelligence, I don't expect that you will solve all of those issues in the next three days, but what you will have is ideas and input that will shape that agenda and shape that public discourse as well. Even though this won't be broadcast live, the nature of the Cabinet room, the ideas that have been generated already will be the subject of discussion. So, one of the things that I've said is that we are focused on delivery and getting things done, but how things are done is also important. I think that political change, whether it's in the economy, social policy or the environment, is likely to be more successful and more entrenched and more lasting when people come with us on that journey. And that's why this engagement is important as well. Seeing as well that obviously – I would be shocked if everyone in this room agreed with each other. In fact, it would be – we may as well not have it, if that was the case. Because then you wouldn't, by definition, have a contest of ideas, which is what we're interested in. But there are a range of things where clearly the national interest should override sectional interest. And that's the other thing we're looking for, for people to, if you like, take off your hat that you're wearing specifically and to look at, okay, what's the national interest here? How do we progress economic growth in a way, as well, that is not the end in itself, it's about lifting living standards of Australians.
That's what it's about, lifting people up. We are quite proud of the effort and I think that Jim and Katy in particular deserve extraordinary credit for the fact that we meet a time where our economy is growing, where unemployment fell last week down to 4.2, where inflation has been got under control, where we've had three interest rate decreases so far this year and where real wages have grown. That's the objective here. There are some economists, perhaps some in this room, who thought that you couldn't get any inflation down without getting unemployment up. Well, that's not my Government's way. My Government is focused on looking after people on the economic journey. And with that, I thank all of you very much for your participation over the next three days. I'll welcome you all to The Lodge tomorrow night for a less formal gathering and hopefully you can come along there. Pretty informal dress by the way, and all that, informal activity, expect a social occasion and hopefully by then you're even friendlier and more engaged than you are at this time at the beginning of this process. And I'll hand to Jim.
JIM CHALMERS, TREASURER: For the Queenslanders here, informal dress means thongs to us. Don't kick us out.
PRIME MINISTER: It's a bit cold here, just to point that out.
TREASURER: I want to add my thanks to the Prime Minister’s. You’re all contributing your experience and your expertise in the service of the national economic interest, and we are very grateful to you for that. I also want to thank the PM – for his introduction and for his support for this effort since he first announced this Roundtable ten weeks ago today. If there’s a defining characteristic of the Government he leads it’s that it is considered and consultative. We share his belief that the best progress we can make, is the progress we make together. From the outset, he’s been clear that this is about writing the next chapter on economic reform, and I want to acknowledge the leadership he’s shown in getting us here. Already there’s been a very intensive period of consultation. A ‘boardroom blitz’ with dozens of business leaders, union leaders, over forty ministerial roundtables, almost 900 submissions from across the country, discussions with everyone here.
The appetite and ambition have been really encouraging. Again, I couldn’t be more grateful for that, because it’s helped put us in a good position for the coming days. Some of you have been in this cabinet room before, for others it’s your first time. I wanted to tell you why we chose this room, not because we want to usurp the role of cabinet and ministers. Not to take decisions for them, but to inform them. We chose it to keep the numbers focused and the conversation flowing. We chose it because we want you to grapple with the same sorts of issues and trade-offs and opportunity costs, we grapple with almost every week, as a group. And because it was in this room in one of the first cabinet meetings after the election that we decided to put productivity at the very core of our second term agenda.
The timing for this gathering couldn’t be better, the responsibility couldn’t be bigger. In fact, it’s hard to recall a time when the balance between opportunity and uncertainty was so finely poised as it seems now. Between the progress we’ve made and the productivity we need to sustain it in uncertain times. We’ve had four major economic shocks in less than two decades. What used to be punctuation points marking the end and beginning of long periods of calm has become a near permanent state of upheaval. At the same time as the bigger backdrop is being shaped by big challenges and uncertainty on the horizon in areas like energy, demography, industry, technology and geopolitics that were sketched out so starkly in our Intergenerational Report. We are realistic about the impact of all of this but optimistic too. In this world of churn and change we like Australia’s chances. We’re not complacent by any means, but the progress we’ve made together in the past few years does give us confidence.
Last week was the perfect illustration: On Tuesday, a third interest rate cut in six months because of the progress that’s been made on inflation. On Wednesday annual real wages growing for the seventh consecutive quarter, the strongest growth in five years. On Thursday, unemployment ticked down and 25,000 new jobs. Australia’s performance sets us apart, but we’re not satisfied, we need to do more and we need to do better and we will. That’s why the discussions here matter, over the next three days. It’s why the decisions taken here matter, over the next three budgets. But it’s the efforts and enterprise of people outside this room that have played and will continue to play the decisive role. It’s for them that we need to make the most of this defining decade – to build for them a new generation of prosperity.
Our progress in the near term, our ability to get on top of the cyclical issues in our economy, gives us the time and space and platform to attend to the bigger more persistent structural issues. As the PM and I both said at the National Press Club: We are proud of the progress we’ve made, we are focused primarily on delivering what we took to the election, but that’s not the limit of our ambitions that is the foundation of our ambitions. We have three clear objectives. Most importantly, to make our economy more productive over time, because that’s the best way to lift living standards and make people better off. To make our nation more resilient in a more contested world. And thirdly, to build on the budget repair we’ve begun, to make it more sustainable.
We have filled this room with experience and expertise. We have opened that door to you and opened our minds to your ideas. Twenty-three core attendees, and twenty-five session-specific attendees, from business, government, economics and academia, the union movement and civil society. As I said: please consider this as three days to inform three budgets – and beyond. To make the most of this opportunity we need your concrete ideas, we need you to be specific. We need to be able to pay for them. We need you to be willing to test them with others in this room. We need you to be willing to compromise and find common ground. This is all about building consensus and building momentum. Which means going beyond our own narrow, sectional or commercial interests and serving the national economic interest. This is an ambitious group, an ambitious government, an ambitious agenda.
Global uncertainty surrounds us, big economic challenges confront us, and our ambitions must meet this moment. Broadly, we’re looking to build consensus around three types of outcomes: Clear reform directions – areas where there’s momentum and broad agreement on the direction of travel even if unanimity isn’t there yet. Specific reforms – the handful of changes we could all agree on now. And ongoing priorities – where there’s appetite in the room for further work. Over these three days I’ll try to keep it focused, keep it constructive, and keep it flowing.
I’ll provide some opening remarks for each session which will help to set up our conversation before inviting contributions from around the table. Michele is kicking us off today. Danielle tomorrow. Jenny on Thursday. After hearing and testing your ideas, I’ll try to draw the main threads together. As we move through the next three days, I would appreciate it if you could keep one thing front of mind. We don’t just want to know what you’d do if you were us. We want to know what we can do together, and what your contribution will be to that bigger more ambitious effort. If there are solutions to the big challenges we face, I’m confident all the people in this room can help us find them. With that, I’ll thank the Prime Minister, I’ll thank the media, and shortly we’ll go to Governor Bullock.