It’s Tuesday the 19th of August, and a very big day for reform enthusiasts: the start of the economic reform roundtable in Canberra. 24 leaders from business, unions, politics and civil society are gathering to look at resilience, productivity and budget sustainability. The business community has waited until the last minute to pile on the pressure, declaring 'our economic rule book is out of date,' while the Productivity Commissioner used a Press Club address yesterday to focus on the red tape and taxes that are stifling growth. One of the first speakers is RBA governor Michele Bullock, fresh from last week's warning about the nation's productivity crisis.
NAB has admitted to underpaying staff due to payroll errors, setting aside $130 million this financial year to address the issue. The announcement came alongside the bank's June quarter results, with cash earnings of $1.7 billion, down 1pc. Still, the bank's share price rose 2.7pc, helping the S&P/ASX 200 to another record - that's six in six days.
Qantas has been fined $90 million – the largest workplace penalty in Australian corporate history – for illegally sacking 1,820 ground staff in 2020 during the pandemic. Justice Michael Lee was critical of former CEO Alan Joyce, and noted current CEO Vanessa Hudson’s failure to testify, saying Qantas showed the “wrong kind of sorry.”
Former PM Malcolm Turnbull has slammed corporate complacency over cyber security, warning businesses and executives that they – not government – are responsible for protecting customer data.
Australia is lagging behind global peers in adopting the four-day workweek. Both Unilever and Bupa have abandoned trials, despite evidence it can boost productivity, reduce burnout and improve wellbeing.
Meta’s multibillion-dollar push into artificial intelligence is running into problems. Months on from launching the Meta AI app as a standalone rival to ChatGPT, users complain the tech is glitchy, impersonal and inconsistent.
Fear-o-meter
The wider Australian business community (through the umbrella grouping of the Joint Group of Industry Associations) have made a broad submission to the economic reform roundtable:
Our economic rule book is out of date. If we don’t fix it, not only will Australians struggle to get ahead in life, but future generations are at risk of missing out on the quality of life we enjoy today.
We have jointly identified four reform priority areas that will deliver benefits for economic activity across the whole country:
Boosting investment and innovation by reforming incentives and funding models around research and development, … [and| positioning Australia as a leading jurisdiction for artificial intelligence and emerging technologies.
Reducing red tape through better regulation through a regulatory stocktake and commitment to a 25 per cent reduction in the regulatory burden by 2030.
Improving planning and major project approvals by reforming the overarching framework for environmental and planning approvals, coordinating and unifying federal, state, and local planning processes.
Kickstarting comprehensive tax reform by appointing a range of stakeholders, including business representatives, for a three-month review, with the support of the Productivity Commission and Treasury, underpinned by principles for tax reform which encourage investment and economic growth.
Fear & Greed Q+A today
What will it take to close the gender pay gap?
Today is Equal Pay Day, which marks the end of the 50 additional days into the new financial year that women in Australia need to work to earn the same pay, on average, as men. Elizabeth Broderick AO speaks to Natalie MacDonald about the progress being made, and the steps leaders can take right now to help close this gap.
"The first action to do is to actually look at your organisation, and particularly if you're someone who's leading the organisation, then to undertake what we call a gender pay audit. So that is to look at, on average, are men and women paid equally for work of equal or comparable value. So I think just doing that analysis, that's actually the starting point.
And you can start as easily as saying look we've got new graduates coming into our organisation. Are we paying men and women equally from the day they start? Most people, most organisations hopefully would say yes to that - but then if you say yes to that, go on and say okay, well what is the first what we would call a broken rung? That's the first point. at which women's promotion starts to slow down and men's promotion starts to speed up because that's maybe the first point of intervention.
So with those two small steps, you're on the way to better understanding the gender pay gap and what action you might take to try and make sure that men and women are paid equally."
An estimated $5.4 trillion is expected to be passed between generations over the next two decades in Australia, largely through property and superannuation. Colonial First State surveyed Australians on how much they're expecting to inherit, and when they're expecting to receive it.
Age group
Amount ($)
Expecting inheritance within 5 years (%)
18–29
525,978
16.8
30–39
353,526
18.2
40–49
547,667
21.0
50–64
287,563
35.8
65–74
167,624
83.8
Source: Colonial First State, reported in Australian Financial Review
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