‘Consume, be silent, die’: that’s the PM’s message, say fed-up business chiefs

August 28, 2026 — 5:00am

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From the moment the Albanese government was elected, there has been an uneasy truce with the business community that has looked more like a shotgun marriage than a pair of star-crossed lovers.

Captains of industry have participated in the various summits the government has organised, smiled and then watched as it enacted legislation, such as changes to industrial relations laws in its first term, that business has quietly hated. But the 2026 federal budget marked a break point.

And the Business Council of Australia’s annual dinner this week shone a renewed spotlight on those frustrations. The BCA, which represents about 130 of Australia’s largest companies, is run by Bran Black, a mild-mannered former lawyer who also worked as chief of staff to Dominic Perrottet when he was NSW’s Liberal premier.

Black is not a culture warrior or hyper-partisan. He is far less likely to have a crack at the government in public than his predecessor, Jennifer Westacott.

In his speech at the dinner, Black told guests, including Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers, that “our living standards depend on our ability to grow the economy and create more prosperity. And the simple point is that Australia cannot tax, regulate or redistribute its way to higher living standards. We have to grow and we have to become more productive.”

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That might not sound controversial, but for Black it’s the equivalent of a nine-alarm fire.

In a subsequent interview, Black went a little further (but not much), telling me that the BCA wanted to build consensus across business and government about the problems confronting the........

© The Age