Bill Kelty has been a member of the Labor Party since 1964 but he is not among the hundreds of delegates at the party's national conference in Adelaide. If he were, the conference's Thursday debate on the economy might have seen a touch of fire.

Earlier in the week, Kelty - a central player in the union movement's key role in the Hawke-Keating economic reforms - unloaded with an acerbic critique of Australia's situation.

Kelty, giving evidence to a parliamentary committee regarding a dispute between the government and Armaguard (of which he is a non-executive director), highlighted the recent dismal picture of the Australian economy presented by the OECD. Its report showed a 5 per cent decline in real wages since 2021.

"We know the underlying malaise," Kelty said in his written submission. "Productivity change is the third lowest in the OECD. Investment is low. Growth per capita is non-existent. Government expenditure is rising much faster than inflation. The tax on working people is increasing faster than their wages.

"It is easy to blame the governments of the past and present but ultimately we are all to blame. Something is wrong with this place and we need to do something about it," Kelty said.

In the economic session at Labor's supreme organisational body's triennial conference, there was no deep, contested debate about Australia's fundamental problems.

The conference's economic debate proceeded with the emphasis on speed and unity. No one spoke against any of the many amendments moved. They just sailed through.

In his address to the conference Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was at pains to empathise with ordinary Australians' woes.

"I understand that for many Australians right now, looking to the future runs second to the immediate pressures they are under," he said.

"The last decade has inflicted one global shock after another. And people have been given every reason to feel like the economy is simply not working for them.

"That goes deeper than sentiment, it's a reality people are up against. It is a challenge confronting governments and democracies........

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