It's not often that I agree with a unionist, especially one like ACTU Secretary Dave Oliver who has vocally advocated increased government intervention in the automotive industry. But Oliver's recent comments on productivity have some validity; specifically, the idea that productivity is more than just industrial relations.
While there are undoubtedly some issues that need addressing in industrial relations, focusing the productivity debate on unions and workers misses the biggest impediment to growth in this country – government.
It is not unions who have massively increased spending on recurrent, consumption programs at the expense of developing new infrastructure.
It is not workers who have introduced rafts of new environmental regulations and green tape that have impacted Australia's competitiveness.
It is not industrial relations that cause serious delays in the approval process for new projects.
The most recent Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry quarterly survey of small business found that 'Business Taxes and Government Charges continues to constitute the top barrier to investment for small businesses for the ninth successive quarter.'
In addition, between August 2011 and May 2013, Federal Government Regulations and State Government Regulations each featured in the top 10 limitations for small and medium business no less than seven times.
Rich countries occasionally ignore productivity issues. They focus instead on redistributing wealth (because business should supposedly be taxed more to 'pay their share') or regulating behaviour (because corporations have 'corporate social responsibilities').
However if we want to maintain and increase our standard of living, wages and real economic growth in the future, government activity has to be better targeted and the share of GDP that government takes must be reduced. We must grow the pie, not just slice it more finely.
It brings to mind something else that Oliver said: 'Productivity growth matters. The main driver of real economic growth, it's how we keep improving the standard of living for working people.'
As we are proving in our TARGET30 campaign: the real debate about future prosperity in this country begins with the role of government.
Simon Cowan is a Research Fellow at The Centre for Independent Studies.
Home > Commentary > Opinion > Productivity is more than industrial relations
Productivity is more than industrial relations
While there are undoubtedly some issues that need addressing in industrial relations, focusing the productivity debate on unions and workers misses the biggest impediment to growth in this country – government.
It is not unions who have massively increased spending on recurrent, consumption programs at the expense of developing new infrastructure.
It is not workers who have introduced rafts of new environmental regulations and green tape that have impacted Australia's competitiveness.
It is not industrial relations that cause serious delays in the approval process for new projects.
The most recent Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry quarterly survey of small business found that 'Business Taxes and Government Charges continues to constitute the top barrier to investment for small businesses for the ninth successive quarter.'
In addition, between August 2011 and May 2013, Federal Government Regulations and State Government Regulations each featured in the top 10 limitations for small and medium business no less than seven times.
Rich countries occasionally ignore productivity issues. They focus instead on redistributing wealth (because business should supposedly be taxed more to 'pay their share') or regulating behaviour (because corporations have 'corporate social responsibilities').
However if we want to maintain and increase our standard of living, wages and real economic growth in the future, government activity has to be better targeted and the share of GDP that government takes must be reduced. We must grow the pie, not just slice it more finely.
It brings to mind something else that Oliver said: 'Productivity growth matters. The main driver of real economic growth, it's how we keep improving the standard of living for working people.'
As we are proving in our TARGET30 campaign: the real debate about future prosperity in this country begins with the role of government.
Simon Cowan is a Research Fellow at The Centre for Independent Studies.
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