CPA Australia introduces productivity call to action

New report recommends priority policy and reform options for economic prosperity

'It's time to address the issue of productivity decline and put it into perspective for all Australians. It's also time to stop gaining cold comfort from comparisons to broken economies. Australia’s future is in its own hands and at its centre is productivity.' Alex Malley, CEO, CPA Australia

Date issued: 20 September 2011

CPA Australia, Australia's largest accountancy body, today launched an official call to action to improve national productivity and ensure the enhancement of Australia’s living standards.

CPA Australia's publication, Enhancing Australia's prosperity, emphasises that productivity enhancement is not about people working longer, rather it's about creating the best possible environment for resources, human or otherwise, to operate more efficiently and effectively.

CPA’s Australia's seven-point call to action

1. Improve infrastructure: as cities remain Australia's principal centres of economic activity, more must be done to address traffic congestion, including better public transport, and its impact on productivity. This will allow people to get to and from work quicker, improving efficiency and enabling better work-life balance.
2. Additional investment in skills and education: this will not only improve worker output, but it can also lead to higher wages. Investing in peoples' skills will aid our national capability. 
3. Tax reform: the current tax and welfare system can discourage people from working to their full ability. Removing such disincentives can enhance productivity. 
4. Savings policy reform: higher levels of household savings are essential to fund the infrastructure Australia needs to improve productivity. While superannuation should be the key to this, it should not be seen as the only savings mechanism. 
5. Improve transparency and reporting: this will allow businesses and investors to make better decisions about where, when and how they spend or invest their money for the best return. 
6. Regulatory reform: at last count, Australia had about 500 governments, many of which make similar laws and by-laws. This duplication means businesses spend a lot of time on compliance as opposed to production and innovation. 
7. Workplace relations: policies need to create incentives for the reallocation of labour and capital to growing sectors of the economy, particularly the resource sector.

CPA Australia CEO Alex Malley says measures to improve productivity had to be implemented as a matter of urgency. 'Australia's economic performance over the past decade has been very strong on the face of it, but this has masked significant structural issues, poor productivity growth being foremost among these,' he says.

'Achieving the necessary productivity improvements requires a willingness on the part of leaders – in politics and business – to make some tough decisions and question some existing assumptions.'

'For a developed economy like Australia, productivity gains represent the main avenue for continued growth. Modern economies are complex structures but their performance essentially depends on the availability of capital and the productivity of the labour force. Resources booms are cyclical phenomena and eventually end. Improving productivity in other sectors while the mining boom is still in progress will minimise the negative impact of these structural issues over the next few years.'

CPA Australia’s publication, Enhancing Australia’s prosperity, is one of a series of papers that will be released by the organisation over the next 12 months. Each will focus on a specific action point to help improve Australia’s productivity and achieve sustainable, economic growth.

You can also find the publication under the Leadership and Influence section of About Us on the CPA Australia website.