4 September 2013
TODAY’s revelation from the World Economic Forum (WEF) that Australia’s international competitiveness has further slipped to now just 21st in the world shows whichever party leads our nation from Monday must urgently provide better support for doing business in this country, says resource industry employer group AREEA.
“In 2007, Australia’s resource industry was the first sector to raise serious concerns that Labor’s plans to re-regulate the national workplace system would lead to excessive cost pressures, productivity stagnation and an erosion of our international competitiveness,” says Steve Knott, chief executive of AREEA (Australian Mines and Metals Association).
“Today, the WEF Global Competitiveness Report 2013-2014 ranks Australia just 21st in the world, behind New Zealand at 18th, Canada (14th) and the United Kingdom (10th).
“Whenever the Kiwis or Brits belt Australia at rugby and cricket, our nation calls for heads to roll, yet our government is effectively ignoring that 20 countries are now better places to do business than Australia.”
The WEF research shows it is again labour inefficiency that is dragging down our nation’s overall global ranking. Restrictive labour regulation has been identified as the biggest problem for doing business in Australia, followed by government bureaucracy and taxation issues.
“Australia’s labour market efficiency is now ranked just 54th in the world when just two years ago it sat at 13th. Our productivity is ranked 113th in the world, wage flexibility 135th and labour relations 103rd,” Mr Knott says.
“This is extraordinarily poor and should ring real alarm bells for those overseeing our economy and labour market. It also destroys the claim that Australia’s current workplace relations system has the balance ‘about right’.
“In stark contrast, our nation has exceptional performance in almost all other areas, including top 10 rankings on education, legal matters, scientific research and corporate governance.
“This globally recognised report demonstrates why there is no credible argument to support Labor’s six years of forcing unions and bureaucracy between employers and employees – an obsession that has failed Australia.”
The Labor Government’s efforts to re-regulate Australia’s labour laws through a string of broken promises over the past six years is detailed in AREEA’s Fair For Who? election analysis.
AREEA’s Productivity Discussion Paper outlines a range of legislative and non-legislative initiatives that our next government should take up to begin to return Australia to its rightful place as a globally productive, competitive nation.
“There has been a lot of talk about productivity in this election campaign with both parties claiming to have the answers,” Mr Knott says.
“Whoever is sitting in the chair on Monday has to do better and deliver concrete policies, especially labour market policies, that actually support investment, competitiveness and the ability to successfully do business in this country.”
For a PDF of this release, including relevant media contact, click here.
