Last night was the Business Council of Australia’s (BCA) annual dinner at Sydney’s Four Seasons Hotel, down near The Rocks.
The guest of honour, as usual, was the prime minister. He also happened to bring close to half of his cabinet with him, including the Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen.
It turns out there was a cabinet meeting earlier in the day in Melbourne, so maybe they all hitched a flight together?
The PM then embarrassed them all during his speech by asking them stand up and make themselves known to their fellow diners.
In his speech, as pre-flagged across the media yesterday, Anthony Albanese made a point of how his government had collaborated with the business sector in developing key policies, such as carbon emissions targets.
“I do want to make the point that for our government, engaging constructively with business is not a one-off event in Canberra,” the PM said, referring to last month’s Economic Reform Roundtable.
“We do it every week of the year, in every part of the country.
“Because we value the insights you offer, as drivers of economic growth, creators of jobs and leaders in innovation.”
As flagged by ABC political reporter Jake Evans yesterday (see link below), corporate tax reform is one of the things on the government’s agenda, with a view to encouraging more investment to boost productivity growth.
But BCA chief executive Bran Black and president Geoff Culbert had a strongly worded warning for the PM and his cabinet colleagues in the room.
Black called the Productivity Commission’s suggestion of a cash flow tax on Australia’s biggest businesses an “uncompetitive and ill-conceived” idea.
Culbert was even more pointed in his message to the government.
“The focus post-roundtable must be on making Australia more competitive to drive business investment, and to raise living standards. That must be the test,” he said.
“That test leads us to some clear lines in the sand. Any increase in taxes on business doesn’t pass the test.
“Indeed, even the spectre of an increase in taxes makes it very hard to underwrite long-dated projects that need certainty. We need to close down that conversation as quickly as possible.”
Culbert also warned the Labor government against any further industrial relations changes, such as following Victoria’s lead in considering to entrench minimum work-from-home rights for many workers.
“Any further regression on industrial relations doesn’t pass the test, and winding back some of the recent IR changes that hurt our competitiveness and discourage investment should not be off the table,” Culbert argued.
The BCA represents Australia’s largest businesses and private sector employers, and the room was a who’s who of the top end of town.
I attended the dinner as a guest of the BCA and, yes, I was fed.