nation’s lagging productivity growth<\/a> \u2013 an issue faced by most developed economies with the exception of the United States \u2013 has been highlighted as a key concern by scores of economists.![\"Treasurer](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/12d9d166-59d4-4ed8-b9ee-7c7e21297ae5.jpeg\")
Treasurer Jim Chalmers is under pressure to deliver productivity-boosting measures. (Alex Ellinghausen)<\/p>\nChalmers has said the May 12 budget will include both productivity and savings measures.<\/p>\n
Economic thinktank the e61 Institute today added its voice to the chorus calling for reform, releasing a new report which stated the tax system can’t support current spending levels, and must be improved.<\/p>\n
“There is no imminent debt crisis, but with renewed pressures ahead \u2013 like an ageing population and slow productivity growth \u2013 Australia’s fiscal options are narrowing,” chief executive Michael Brennan said.<\/p>\n
“With the tax system as it currently stands, we will be asking workers to pay a larger share of their income to fund a fiscal gap that has been building for two decades \u2013 and that’s before any new spending commitments are added to the ledger,” he added.<\/p>\n
“Without tax reform, spending restraint will be needed to avoid burdening future generations with a fragile, inequitable and inefficient Australian economy.”<\/p>\n
In his comments to the AFR, Irvine said the upcoming budget was crucial, pinpointing housing and construction, energy prices, and private spending as particular areas to focus on.<\/p>\n
![\"NAB](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/27169bcc-68f6-4e0c-adfd-f2840ee48a92.jpeg\")
NAB boss Andrew Irvine said the upcoming federal budget, to be delivered on May 12, will be a crucial moment. (Louis Trerise)<\/p>\n
“The May budget is key, and the treasurer has indicated that we should have high expectations for that budget from a productivity perspective,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We’re looking forward to hearing what he has to say.”<\/p>\n
Irvine’s remarks were delivered on the same day NAB posted its first-quarter profit for the 2025-26 financial year.<\/p>\n
Net profit was up 30 per cent year-on-year to $2.2 billion, which was welcomed by investors; the bank’s share price rose some 4 per cent yesterday following the results announcement to reach a record high just north of $47.<\/p>\n
NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The living standards of Australians in 2026 are “as good as it gets” unless the country can improve…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-291626","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Pedestrians](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/1761e682-4848-41a0-8aed-b746b01f671a.png\")
Australians’ living standards will be stuck in the mud without major economic reform, NAB has warned. (AFR\/Louie Douvis)<\/p>\n