AFR Business Summit | Prime Minister of Australia
I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and I pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging.
I am proud to lead a government committed to the Uluru Statement from the Heart, in full.
Later today, I’ll be on my way to India.
I’ll be joined on that trip by 25 CEOs and business leaders – in transport, resources, finance, higher education, architecture and energy – one of the biggest and most significant Australian business delegations to ever visit any of our trading partners.
Australia and India are Indo-Pacific partners through the Quad – and I’m looking forward to hosting the Quad Leaders Summit in the middle of the year.
Our two nations share a rich history – bound by our democratic values and enlivened by genuine friendship and fierce sporting rivalry.
By any measure, Australia is a better place because of our large, diverse and aspirational Indian-Australian community.
Yet for all of this, in 2021-22, India was only Australia’s sixth largest goods and services trading partner.
We can elevate that – and not just by volume.
Our government is seeking to deepen and diversify Australia’s trade links.
Greater diversity in who we trade with – and greater variety in what we trade.
Meaning our economy is more resilient and more secure.
1 in 4 Australian jobs are related to international trade.
I am determined to create more jobs in export industries and broaden our export base…
…so that more Australian businesses – big and small – can find markets for their products and services overseas.
If you look at India, they have set ambitious goals for 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030 – and 30 per cent Electric Vehicles by the same year.
Australia can help realise those goals – and not just as a supplier of critical minerals.
But as a provider of technology and services, mining equipment, software and systems expertise, training and skills.
And value-added products, made in Australia: batteries and storage and charging technology, the next generation of solar panels, electrolysers and zero carbon fertilisers through green ammonia.
And in resources too – green steel and green aluminium and green iron.
The point that is always worth making here is that this is not a zero-sum game.
We can do all these things as well as remaining a trusted and reliable supplier of energy to key trading partners such as Japan and the Republic of Korea…
…as well as supporting their transition to cleaner sources such as green hydrogen.
Australia has the natural advantages to make this happen.
We can be a global provider of choice in the resources, research and expertise that will drive the world to net zero.
But – as every business person in this audience understands – natural advantages are no guarantee of success.
Securing the next generation of Australian prosperity depends on making the right investments in our workforce, our infrastructure, our productivity and innovation.
Because the world isn’t waiting for us.
And doing things the way we’ve always done them before, just because that’s the way they’ve always been done, doesn’t ensure stability – it only guarantees decline.
In the last few years, global shocks have presented us with a series of national wake-up calls.
We’ve seen we are vulnerable, when we are the last link in a global supply chain.
We’ve seen our national energy grid is out of date and our energy market more exposed than it should be, to movements in international prices.
We’ve seen that our cyber security systems – in government and in corporate Australia – are not at the level they need to be.
And we’ve seen the flaws and weaknesses in our national skills base, the over-reliance on temporary migration exposed by closed borders.
All of this has come at a cost.
It’s driven up inflation, hurting family budgets and business costs.
And it’s shown us the extraordinary pressures on our public hospitals and aged care sector.
The worst thing Australia could do, the most expensive mistake our nation could make would be to ignore these warnings.
To dismiss what’s happened as a once-in-a-century event and assume that things will gently return to normal.
We have before us a window of opportunity, a chance for genuine renewal and reform:
- To deliver greater economic security, by investing in our sovereignty, our capacity to stand on our two feet
- To build lasting energy security, by upgrading our energy grid, reducing our emissions and reducing our energy costs
- And to create stronger job security for people, by investing in the skills and training and innovation that drive productivity.
But we have to move fast – because other countries have seen the same signs.
Economies around the world are embarked on a new wave of investment in their own advanced manufacturing capacity.
And they’re seeking new productivity gains through investment in research and development and skills and science and technology.
Governments – and businesses – here in Australia, have to do the same.
That’s the idea at the heart of our National Reconstruction Fund.
Based on the proven success of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, this is a model for enhancing private sector capital investment and delivering a return on taxpayer dollars.
Boosting our nation’s capacity to make things here again – and enabling businesses to add more value here.
We are determined to legislate our Safeguard Mechanism: to provide business and industry with a clear, stable and long-term framework for reducing emissions.
Everyone recognises that the global transition to net zero will take time.
Equally, we understand there is no time to waste.
The work of transition will require massive investment in building new physical assets and modifying existing ones.
This is where gas in particular has a key role to play, as a flexible source of energy – providing peaking power today and continuing to provide firming power.
Helping to smooth the transition to renewables, while guaranteeing energy security both for Australia and for our partners in the region.
And when businesses have to make capital decisions over five and ten and twenty year timeframes, it is so important they can look to government for the confidence and certainty of a stable foundation and a long-term vision.
Not the sort of chopping and changing that saw the Liberals and Nationals announce 22 different energy policies without delivering a single one.
Including, I might add, the very Safeguard Mechanism that they are now seeking to oppose.
We’re acting to upgrade Australia’s energy security – and we’re also acting on cyber security.
Cyber security is as essential and as important for business as a lock on the door.
It’s vital to protecting your intellectual property, your clients’ privacy and your customers’ confidence.
Threats like cybercriminal activity are fast-moving and rapidly-evolving – but for too long the capacity of government and business has been off the pace.
We are determined to change that.
That’s why, last week, we brought together business and civil society and intelligence agencies and the public service to inform a comprehensive and co-ordinated Cyber Security Strategy.
And with this same focus on greater long-term security, we are reforming our migration program, returning the emphasis to permanent residency and citizenship.
We are making Infrastructure Australia a serious, rigorous body again.
Moving away from the partisanship and short-termism, so we can get Commonwealth investment flowing into a pipeline of productivity-enhancing projects that create jobs and train apprentices.
And – last month – we tasked the Productivity Commission to map out the path to universal, affordable child care.
Universal, affordable child care is an investment in early education, in the next generation, that the world is making.
Importantly, it’s an economic reform which will boost workforce participation, productivity and population – the three Ps of economic growth – while taking pressure off family budgets.
I’ve said before that business has been ahead of government in so many areas over the last decade.
More engaged, in more parts of our region.
More alive to the global challenge of climate change – and the global opportunity of renewables and clean energy technology.
And I have no doubt, there are leaders in this room who have driven company-wide, even sector-wide initiatives that our government can take lessons from.
My colleagues and I didn’t come to office with a sense of entitlement, we don’t imagine we hold a monopoly on good ideas.
We want to work with business, to get things done, for the good of the nation.
Last year’s Jobs and Skills Summit – which many of you made a valuable contribution to – stands as proof of that.
Those two days of discussions produced agreement on 36 immediate outcomes, which we acted quickly to deliver:
- Increasing the Permanent Migration Intake to 195,000
- Additional investment in visa processing, to tackle the extraordinary backlog we inherited.
- The creation of Jobs and Skills Australia, to identify and anticipate workforce demand – now and into the future.
- Industrial relations reform, to encourage employers and employees being able to sit down and negotiate improvements in productivity and pay.
- Expanding Paid Parental Leave – and making it more flexible.
- And a national skills agreement, signed by every state and territory to create 180,000 fee-free TAFE places this year.
There are Australians enrolled in new courses, training for good jobs in areas of national priority, right now, as a result of that agreement.
And work is well underway in other areas: including creating new digital apprenticeships in the public service and improving workforce participation opportunities for people with disability.
Not all of these ideas came from within government.
Not all of these were policies we took to the election.
Neither was the Energy Price Relief plan we agreed with every state and territory and government, to shield Australian business and Australian households from the worst of global price spikes.
But what these things have in common is they recognise and meet an urgent national need – and they set us up for a more secure future, over the long term.
Through a wasted decade, the previous government ignored every wake-up call and warning.
And they shot down every alternative, because it suited their pathology of political conflict.
We are determined to leave that pattern of neglect and crisis and hurried announcement behind.
We’ve put a priority on orderly process, on debate informed by evidence and experts.
Because we understand that to deliver reform, people need to know where you are coming from – as well as where you want to go.
So when my colleagues come to you, as business leaders, seeking your input, be assured it is not for the sake of it, or the look of it. It’s not to pad out a report to put on the shelf.
We want you involved and engaged in the work of change and reform.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I expect us to agree on every element of every initiative – no reform worth doing is wholly uncontested.
But I think we all come to this conversation with the understanding that turning away from this window of opportunity…
…hitting snooze on this wake-up call, settling for a slow decline as the world forges ahead, is simply not good enough.
Our government has every confidence Australia can rise to this moment.
And we are determined to continue working with business and unions, with civil society, policy experts – and a reinvigorated public service, to seize the opportunities ahead of our nation.
Deepening and diversifying our international investment and trade links.
Taking our place as a clean energy superpower.
Revitalising advanced manufacturing in our regions.
Training Australians to lead in cyber capability and technology.
And building an economy that embraces innovation and flexibility and equality for women to draw on the talent of our whole population.
In all of this, business has a vital role to play – and I look forward to engaging with you in the years ahead.