Govt 'more likely' to 'reform' Productivity Commission than the economy: Credlin

the urge to do better is one of our

deepest human instincts if we work hard

we want to go ahead we want a good home

we want to live in a safe community and

most of all we want to have our kids to

get the life at least as good as we've

had it's the same for countries as it is

for individuals if our country is to

progress the Next Generation has to

enjoy at least the same standard of

living we do but preferably a better one

and this comes down to productivity The

Economist term for the amount of output

you get for every unit of input in the

real world productivity improves when a

factory gets say better machines when

workers upgrade their skills and when

government imposes fewer hobbles on

business just think how much more

productive Australia's farmers are now

that they've got tractors as well as

Horses chemical fertilizers as well as

manure and wire fences rather than ones

out of Timber and stone the problem

though is that our National productivity

growth is stalling over the past decade

our national productivity that's the

amount we produce given the amount we

put in grew by just one percent a year

now that's the worst result in 60 years

and just half the annual productivity

growth we had in the 1990s which was a

decade of sustained economic reform

the productivity commission reckons that

if Australia had kept up our 60-year

average in terms of productivity growth

so not fallen behind in the past decade

our national income per person would now

be almost five thousand dollars a year

higher ahead of a major report to be

released tomorrow the treasurer says

that if we stay on this current low

growth trajectory he says and I quote

future incomes will be 40 lower than

otherwise and the working week will need

to be five percent longer in other words

without more efficient operation of the

economy we'll do more and get less or

work harder and earn less

according to the productivity Commission

in order to improve productivity growth

what's needed are workers who are more

skilled markets that are more

competitive technologies that better

used and government it's more efficient

plus they say reaching Net Zero at the

lowest possible cost

but does anyone think that's likely to

be the agenda of the current government

well the Albanese government certainly

agrees with the commission that our

national productivity needs to improve

this government Wants More Union power

and influence not less more government

direction of markets and more renewable

energy regardless of its impact on the

security of our power supply is it any

wonder that one of the Albanese

government's innumerable reviews is into

the productivity commission itself

a body that sees better markets rather

than big government

as the answer to our problems excuse me

our current Prosperity albeit less than

it might have been is a product of the

reforms undertaken by the hawk and

Howard governments

but instead of reforming the economy

this government's more likely to reform

the productivity Commission

in what could easily become a bad case

of shooting the messenger just when we

need to hear honest truth more than ever