Address to the Business Council of Australia

Thank you so much, Geoff, and thank you, Bran as well for what I thought was a really constructive, thoughtful opening to this evening’s events. I begin by also acknowledging the traditional owners and I thank Yvonne Weldon for the welcome to country. I want to thank everyone here for hosting us for what is my fifth address to the BCA and to acknowledge all of my state and federal parliamentary colleagues who are here this evening, in particular all my ministerial colleagues, but also the members of the diplomatic corps, senior public servants, but members of the BCA as well.

My theme tonight is the need for a positive partnership between government, business and the community to keep our economy strong so we can keep our democracy strong. With the world now as it is, these two aspects are inseparably linked. All of us here tonight have been fortunate to live in an era of relative global harmony.

Ours has been an era of peace, technological innovation and rising prosperity for the people of the world. Australia has been among the biggest beneficiaries driven in large part by growing trade with Asia. The resulting sustained growth has made us the envy of so much of the world. Australia's comparative good fortune, our peace, our prosperity, our democratic foundations appear obvious. This sustained success has given our nation a sense of optimism and common purpose that seldom is found as strong elsewhere. Of course, we sometimes differ on important policy issues, but those disagreements are typically matters of emphasis and degree. Division, declinism, and negativity haven't overtaken us, as unfortunately they have in so many parts of the world. And this has allowed us to mostly build broad consensus and advance together steadily with governments of the centre left or the centre right. As a result, our nation has thrived.

The facts tell the story. Australia had a stronger economic growth, lower unemployment, stronger employment growth, and a stronger budget than most advanced economies. And our stable economic outlook and AAA credit rating were reconfirmed just in the last fortnight. Both Moody's and S&P were upbeat. With Moody's adding that our AAA rating was, and I quote, underpinned by robust government finances supported by expenditure reforms and a record of conservative budget saying they expect real GDP growth in 2026 and 2027 to be among the strongest in the G20. Now, we must do all we can together – a theme of the three speeches you've heard tonight – to keep this success going. It won't be easy. After decades of relative calm, our world is indeed turbulent. It is beset by major military conflicts, most notably in Ukraine and the Middle East, that are causing trade restrictions and global inflation. It is experiencing the unmistakable impact of climate change.

The current temperature record breaking European summer has been a wake up call for the world. Its economic, social and human costs will be enormous. And our world is undergoing another profound wave of technological change in the shape of artificial intelligence. There is uncertainty about how all of these factors will play out, but they are causing unease and they're involved in populist forces, intent on spreading disinformation, negativity and division. How we handle this global moment will have major consequences for our economy, our social harmony and our democracy. Government, business, unions, and the community must meet this challenge together. The answer lies in not elevating grievance and division. We must remain positive and optimistic. Promote good ideas. Stay open to necessary reform. And crucially, we have to acknowledge that many Australians currently feel under pressure and deserve to have their concerns addressed very directly. Just as we need to push on with economic reform to increase productivity, we need to understand why so many Australians seek reassurance about the degree and direction of change.

That means we must do all we can to ensure that our rising prosperity reaches everyone. Australia can do this. We know this because we've done it before. And this is the motivation behind what we're doing at the moment in the crucial area of housing. Now, in all of the debate, no one has argued that the existing housing system was working for what is after all its primary purpose. And the primary purpose of housing is to give Australians access to a roof over their head, for them and their family, for home ownership. Since we changed tax breaks for property investors, first home buyers are facing less competition. More homes are being built right across the country. In the June quarter, there was a 27 per cent increase in investor loans for new builds. That is what the system was designed to do. And a 20 per cent increase for construction loans showing that developers are responding to this environment, because investors can still purchase new property using negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount if they want to do that.

That's a good thing, investing in their own future wealth and assets. But if you're investing in a new build, you're also investing in the assets and future wealth of the country. This is why, even though this is difficult reform, we're about giving Australians more of a stake in our national success. And this fact is vitally important, because when you can put a key in your own front door, you know our economy and the democracy are working for you. And when you have a decent job with better pay, you also know our economy and democracy are working for you. That is how we head off the populist challenge by delivering economic growth, generational equity, and making the economy work for people. Achieving change like this isn't easy. As Jeff just said, it is sometimes easy to retreat and support the status quo. It takes time. It takes effort and it takes goodwill.

But its worth to our country is immeasurable and wide-reaching. And the BCA is playing your role by contributing intelligently and forcefully to our economic debates. And I endorse wholeheartedly your call, done tonight in advance, to become a top 10 global investment destination in order to secure better living standards for this and for, importantly, future generations. As your recently published Global Investment Competitiveness Index shows, Australia is extremely well placed to rise further up the global ranks. We currently are second out of 42 nations in trade, something that would have pleased Minister Farrell, who's with us here tonight. A huge advantage, but in other areas as well, we're tenth in the rule of law. We're 11th in energy. So, we have a starting point where we do of course always do to aim better, but progress is well underway.

When I was your guest last year, I outlined the success of our August 2025 Economic Reform Roundtable that was convened by the treasurer Jim Chalmers, who’s also with us here tonight. A year on, its list of achievements is lengthening. As the Treasurer said on the round table's first anniversary just last week, in the last 12 months, we've delivered the most ambitious tax reform package, the broadest productivity push, and the most net savings in a generation. We're cutting compliance costs across the economy by $10.2 billion dollars a year. This includes pruning $960 million worth of red tape in the financial sector alone. Our moves towards creating a single national market will boost GDP by $13 billion every year. Including this month's heavy vehicle reforms agree with the states and territories that will increase GDP by up to $4.4 billion per year. In the last 12 months alone, we have cut around 500 nuisance tariffs, bringing the total number of tariffs cut to nearly a thousand. And our new Free Trade Agreement with the European Union will give Australian exporters easier access to a market with some 450 million customers. One of the things that we will need to work on to take up the BCA's offer here is that we'll need the support of the business community to ensure it gets through the Senate, given the comments of the Nationals leader, the Greens and other sceptics towards markets. We cannot afford for anything other than there to be support for this major agreement.

Now, all these major reforms compliment the more than $3.8 billion in new measures. We've taken a lower taxes for businesses and startups, including two year loss carry back, loss refundability and expanded incentives for venture capital. Our strong suit in the global rankings trade is set to become even stronger. Annual two-way trade with our five top Asian trading partners, China, ASEAN, Japan, Korea and India now totals almost three quarters of a trillion dollars. And it is set to keep growing. Our efforts here are unstinted with recent visits from regional leaders.

And earlier this year I visited Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, and Malaysia to strengthen those relationships even further. These visits did ensure security of supply for our fuel and fertiliser. And I'll be working with the BCA on advancing our trading relationship with India by the end of this year. Our prosperity does continue to rise for it to continue. Support for reform must be maintained and it must be strengthened. And there's only one way to harness support for this by demonstrating that will make life better for people. Business must succeed for people and communities to succeed, which is why I welcome the constructive relationship between the Government and the business community. And I welcome the formation of an umbrella group comprising all of the people organisations from small business right through to the major businesses. Positive change for people must be driven, and that is the most important outcome.

Taking the pressure off cost of living remains our first priority. Economic justice is being spread with methods such as the gender pay gap being at an all time low. New legislation locking in wage justice for early childhood educators. And just last week, gig economy workers not being left behind. These are valued members of our workforce who deserve to share in our national growth. More opportunities are being created through our skills policies. 800,000 enrolments now in Free TAFE. More than 250,000 of those have been completed. 36,000 new construction apprentices in our key apprenticeship programme. We’re also providing practical support for people through bulk billing, lifting it up through our tripling of the bulk billing incentive. Bulk billing now at 84 per cent nationally, 3,800 clinics around the country making a difference. Cheaper medicines being added to the PBS regularly, and the price coming down to $25. And that, as I’ve said before, something that is front and centre is young Australians getting a fair crack in the housing market, that frankly was just rigged against them.

Two other factors must now also be confronted. The first is the effect of the global situation on Australia's inflation and global supply chains. Simultaneous conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East have upset world trade. They've pushed up prices and they've made the attainment of sovereign capability in vital goods and services absolutely crucial. That’s what the Future Made in Australia agenda is about, making sure that we can't be left at the mercy of highly exposed supply chains. On energy, we recently leveraged our diplomatic and trading relationships to secure those fuel supplies and on resources and manufacturing. We recently worked with industry, unions and the community to secure the future of the Tomago aluminium smelter. Tomago’s significance for our economy is enormous. This was a joint agreement between the Commonwealth and New South Wales, which will secure a supply of vital aluminium for Australian manufacturing businesses. And importantly, we’ve worked with the company, with the private sector, Rio, Tomago, we’ll put in over $1.4 billion dollars to upgrade that facility. This is about supporting thousands of jobs in the Hunter region, but it's also about making a massive contribution to decarbonising our economy and our East Coast energy grid. Australia is one of only a handful of countries with an end-to-end aluminium supply chain spanning bauxite mining, aluminium refining, aluminium smelting and advanced manufacturing. We couldn't afford to let it fail, and that's why we didn't.

We're bringing the same level of ambition to AI. Now, AI adoption will continue to grow. As business builds and tests newer capabilities of frontier AI capabilities accelerate, Australia can do more to unlock frontier AI development. And we must shape this change to harness the positive opportunities while minimising the downsides. Australia is in a strong position to attract investment in data centres, but maintaining social licence will be essential. That means ensuring energy bills do not rise, water security is maintained, and locations are appropriate. Getting this right can ensure Australia is the infrastructure partner for our region, aided of course by our status as a Five Eyes partner. It will advance our national sovereignty. It is essential for our national security for business productivity, science, innovation and resilience. Tomorrow I will advance discussion on national standards for AI at National Cabinet. The objective of all governments must be to turn our attractive investment settings into a comparative advantage that supports our national interests. We can't afford to have eight different systems in Australia, which is why we need national standards with broad support. Hosting large-scale AI training data centres and unlocking frontier AI model training will help Australia capture a larger share of the economic value, technical capability, and strategic influence of artificial intelligence, as well as boost the competitiveness of our startups and innovative businesses.

We must establish conditions to attract investment in frontier AI training, ensuring that artificial intelligence is developed safely, securely, and in ways that respect copyright and provide control and payment to the creative sector. Now, every country is dealing with these enormous issues. Just as I'm absolutely sure that every business in this room is considering the implications of what is a revolution. Australia will be the first to bring the policy response into a single national framework overseen by a central office located in my own department. We're leading the world in developing AI best practice, and I will be doing further work on this at the UN next month. We’ve led the world in the under-16s social media ban. Joined by New Zealand just on Monday. We can lead the world on AI. We have all the advantages, the space, the access to clean energy, the location, the security, trust of partners as well as a Five Eyes partner, for this to be something that drives productivity right through our economy.

Now tonight, I've spoken of the importance of remaining positive and upbeat in the face of the challenges which are there caused by global volatility. We know that they include global inflation and productivity. I am so incredibly proud of our country and I'm so optimistic about our future. A huge strength is that we can get reform done. In just last week, our parliament passed three highly significant pieces of legislation: reforms to make the NDIS sustainable so it can help Australians who need into the future; the News Bargaining Incentive to keep our media sector strong and make sure that journalists’ work is valued and importantly; new laws as well to get the balance right on gambling to protect those at risk. I believe we're on the right course to emerge even stronger from the big economic and political difficulties that are currently facing the world, and that our national economic success and strongly performing national institutions will help us see off the populist challenge now on the march right across the globe.

By strengthening our economy, we strengthen our democracy. And in the process, the role of the Business Council of Australia will continue to be central. I'm optimistic that together we can ensure that Australia's best days are ahead of us. And I am sure the BCA through Bran and Geoff, but all of the members here as well, that we remain willing partners. Our doors are always open. We need to have constructive, mature dialogue about policy solutions, because no individual has all of the answers. And I’m really encouraged by what I’ve heard tonight and from the work that has been done. And I thank you so much for giving me the honour of addressing you once again here. I look forward to working with you on our common objective, which is the prosperity of our nation. And we all understand that that means successful businesses and also means you therefore as successful businesses with productivity growing and profitability and prosperity growing mean that more Australians can enjoy that as well. Thanks very much. Have a great evening.

PM&C acknowledges the traditional owners and custodians of country throughout Australia and acknowledges their continuing connection to land, water and community. We pay our respects to the people, the cultures and the elders past, present and emerging.