In his victory speech, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese highlighted social policy as a major factor in Labor’s electoral success, particularly Medicare, housing and cost-of-living relief. He was justified in doing so.

A repost from 9 May, 2025

But looking ahead, Treasurer Jim Chalmers named stalled productivity growth as a top priority for the next three years:

The best way to think about the difference between our first term and the second term …[is] the first term was primarily inflation without forgetting productivity, the second term will be primarily productivity without forgetting inflation.

The  government asked the Productivity Commission in December to develop five pillars of its productivity agenda and come up with actionable reforms. And for the first time, the commission went out and sought “productivity pitches” from the community.

Ahead of further reports due out later this year, those community “pitches” offer some clues about where the Albanese Government might start to tackle productivity over the next three years and beyond.

Why does productivity matter?

Essentially, productivity is about working smarter, not harder. It’s about efficiency and innovation  driving more output for an economy or company. Growth in productivity has been the driver of real wage growth and improved living standards since the Industrial Revolution.

However,  productivity performance has slumped across most advanced economies. In Australia, growth is the ........

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