“The work wasn’t done in the first time,” Senator the Hon Bridget McKenzie, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, told guests at the Bulk Liquids Industry Association Gala Dinner, recently. She was critiquing the developments (or, rather, the lack thereof) in Australia’s productivity.
“The fact that the first substantial act of the second term of the Albanese Government is to hold a roundtable on productivity is not a great a sign. Particularly as his own Productivity Commission handed him nine volumes on how to get our economy moving in March 2023 and that’s just sat on his desk,” she told guests.
“The fact that [the round table] is going to be held in the Cabinet room, the room that can comfortably seat just 30 around people, raises concerns as to how deep the productivity focus will be,” she commented.
The Senator commented that the Labor’s record on productivity has been higher taxes disguised as tax reform, superannuation changes, and “minor tinkering” to address bracket creep.
She also criticised the fact that there is growth in the public sector but shrinkage in the private sector, and many new regulations from government.
Going to a no-go
Senator McKenzie then turned to vexed issue of industrial relations.
“Workplace relations are certainly going to be a no-go place. If you wanted to address productivity in this country let’s talk about IR [industrial relations]… And you know it more than most. You’re dealing with the TWU, you’re dealing with the MUA each and every day… But it seems we’re now regressing back and there will be an impact. It is why Australians right now in the suburbs not too far from here, their real wage is going backwards. The data is saying that there feeling poorer because they actually are. But the Labor Party keeps saying, real wages growing. But so are costs. And you guys know the most, because you have to keep passing it on”.
She also talked about Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms, noting that the EU has already implemented such a scheme. Senator McKenzie emphasised the importance of bulk liquid imports in Australia which are essential for food production, mining, construction and manufacturing.
“Where there are no viable domestic substitutes, penalising these imports risks raising costs, constraining industry operations and weakening our own global competitiveness,” she argued.
She also spent some time discussing road infrastructure, state / territory project management and funding matters.
Albo’s armada is the non-solution to the ALP’s own failed coastal shipping policy
Senator McKenzie also discussed the coastal shipping, noting that the Albanese administration is pitching the strategic fleet policy as the solution to its “own failed coastal shipping policy, but they’re refusing to say how much it will cost. Now, we know in many cases, that the Coastal Trading Act has seen the number of Australian flagged vessels operating in the domestic freight task drop. That’s been the legitimate outcome of that legislation,” she told BLIA guests.
“Now, having regulated the industry into retreat, Labor is proposing a taxpayer-backed fleet to replace what its own legislation helped dismantle. I have called this ‘Albo’s Armada’ in other speeches and will retain that moniker. Because it’s seriously about supporting the MUA. That at the end of the day is what this policy seems to be about. It wants to nationalise the aviation sector and nationalise the shipping sector. Again, taking us back to a bygone era when our economy was shackled by regulation. Government owned solutions to a government created problem”, she commented.
Senator McKenzie called for better use of Australia’s priority list for productivity-enhancing projects that benefit industry and the broader community.
“The Albanese Government needs to fast-track regional port projects that reduce congestion, improve capacity, and attract private capital. We need to reduce bottlenecks, remove unnecessary federal overlap, and return certainty to investors who want to get on with the job of building better infrastructure. From Geelong to Gladstone, from Kwinana to the Port of Newcastle, it is the regional ports that really drive productivity from paddock to port,” she said, concluding that: “The Coalition is a strong supporter of our transport industries and the importance of our maritime strategic supply chains”.
