Twenty business groups from across Australia have come together to launch a campaign that calls for a commitment to a policy agenda that backs businesses to succeed and deliver prosperity for all Australians.
Led by the Business Council of Australia (BCA) and the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA), joining the call are various groups that cover every part of the economy, such as farmers, tourist and transport operators, manufacturers, miners, energy producers, newsagents and regional supermarkets.
The aforementioned campaign has called on the Prime Minister, Opposition Leader and independents, including all MPs and Senators to support an agenda in the next term for businesses to grow and thrive so all Australians can benefit through real wage increases and greater prosperity.
As part of the campaign, the groups also published an open letter which reads:
Our businesses support Australians by employing millions of people, funding essential services, and underpinning our national prosperity. Unfortunately, businesses are facing challenges right now that make it harder for them to succeed and thrive. While we are seeing some green shoots in our economy with recent GDP figures, private sector growth is weak, with many underlying issues—particularly productivity.
That’s why we are writing, as the representatives of Australia’s businesses, small and large, to ask you for a clear agenda to enable Australian businesses to grow and thrive. This is a fundamental prerequisite for every political party invested in Australia’s long-term success. This new agenda must back the role of successful businesses, at all levels, in building improved Australian living standards.
We know that the private sector employs six out of every seven workers.
We know that about 80 per cent of Australia’s final economic output comes from businesses of all sizes.
We know that businesses, and the people they employ, account for the bulk of tax revenue that funds our health and security.
In the last year alone, businesses paid $143 billion in company tax. That’s enough to pay for all Federal spending on health and aged care.
Yet we have one of the least competitive tax systems among comparable nations. We’ve burdened our economic engine room with countless new pieces of regulation and red tape.
And the prosperity of all Australians suffers while our productivity lags. That’s why we need an agenda to boost business opportunities in the next term of Parliament—an agenda that makes Australia a more attractive destination for investment and an easier place to do business so that we can increase living standards.
Australia succeeds when business succeeds—and it’s time to make sure we have the settings right for both. The signatories to this letter have each put forward substantive policy proposals in the lead up to the next election.
In the next term of Parliament, we ask that you provide a commitment for an agenda that backs all businesses to be successful in delivering prosperity for all Australians.
Business Council Chief Executive Bran Black said that supporting businesses to be successful would drive economic growth and improve living standards, which is more important than ever, given the current global climate.
“Global uncertainty, including in relation to US tariffs, makes it more important than ever that the Government, Opposition and independents back policies that support businesses of all sizes in Australia to grow and generate prosperity,” Black said. “We need to see genuine reforms that address the high costs of running a business by reducing red tape, restoring a sense of balance to our IR system, delivering a taxation system that’s competitive and sustainable, and creating a better approvals system.”
