Chalmers hits back at critics talking down economic talkfest before it has even begun

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has rounded on critics of the government’s economic roundtable, insisting the three-day meeting to map out ways to improve Australians’ living standards will not be a waste of time.

As the Greens vowed to use their balance of power in the Senate to drive progressive reforms from the roundtable, Chalmers said that next week’s forum would be the start of a three-year drive to increase productivity rather than “instant policy gratification”.

The roundtable begins on Tuesday with discussions to focus on issues ranging from regulatory barriers to building new homes, the structure of the tax system and recognition of occupational licences across state and territory boundaries.

The government has already ruled out substantial tax reform from the roundtable, especially in contentious areas such as the GST and negative gearing. There have also been criticisms that the roundtable could become a talkfest that will fail to deliver policies to address the nation’s slowdown in productivity growth.

But Chalmers said he wanted to push back at critics, many in the Coalition, who have claimed that the gathering will be a waste of time.

“I feel the effort we’ve put in, which has been very, very substantial, probably the most intensive period of consultation that I’ve been involved in, I feel like it’s already worth it,” he told this masthead.

“You shouldn’t anticipate that we will have every problem solved in the economy at the end of three days of fruitful discussions, but it will be a really important way to inform the decisions of the cabinet.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the treasurer have at times struck different tones, creating a perception that Chalmers is more keen to use the roundtable to enact bigger reforms, though the pair have not been obviously at odds over any specific policy.

But Albanese has more quickly and explicitly shut down contentious ideas such as GST changes and other major tax reforms, whereas Chalmers’ approach has been to let ideas be debated, giving rise to questions about their different styles.

Attendees at the roundtable will include the head of the Productivity Commission, Danielle Wood, business sector leaders such as Bran Black and Andrew McKellar, union representatives Sally McManus and Michele O’Neil, Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn and former Treasury secretary Ken Henry.

Chalmers and other senior ministers have had a series of industry discussions plus meetings with business and community leaders.

The treasurer revealed there were “half a dozen” or more ideas out of his own discussions that he has asked Treasury to investigate for their effect on the budget and economy.

He said the ideas out of the roundtable will influence the government’s entire second-term agenda, finding their ways into the next three budgets, playing down expectations of a suite of fully costed policies to be released on Thursday night.

“There might be changes that we can make in policy in the near term. But there’s no instant policy gratification in productivity,” he said.

“Thursday night will be an opportunity to pull the threads together to work out where there are some reform directions which are consistent with the government’s values, affordable and realistic and essential and to move forward from there.”

Policy positions that come out of the roundtable will need to get through the parliament. While Albanese secured Labor’s largest-ever number of seats in the House of Representatives, he needs support from either the Greens or the Coalition in the Senate to pass legislation.

Greens Treasury spokesman Nick McKim said his party was prepared to back “progressive reforms” from the government but signalled he was looking for substantial changes around property and resource taxation and the impact of high effective marginal tax rates on women and young workers.

He said the government should ditch the petroleum resource rent tax and impose an export levy on coal and LNG, in a move he argued would raise revenue and curb greenhouse emissions.

A key change had to be made around the concessional rate of the capital gains tax, with McKim arguing it favoured high-income earners far more than the stage 3 personal income tax cuts that the government modified last term.

McKim said the government should work with the Greens on its post-economic roundtable agenda to get it through the parliament.

“This parliament is a unique opportunity. Labor and the Greens have the numbers in the Senate where we can deliver genuine progressive economic reform,” he told this masthead.

“The government has a large majority in the House, but it needs to work with us in the Senate. We can work collaboratively on progressive reform.”

The roundtable is not expected to issue a communique at its conclusion. Of the ministry, only Chalmers and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher will sit through the entire discussion, reducing the chance of any immediate approval from the government.

Ideas to reduce red tape, particularly in the housing sector, are expected to be quickly picked up. Before the roundtable, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission revealed it was reviewing a contentious regulation that superannuation funds argue has denied $10 billion worth of investment in up to 35,000 new homes.

ASIC was one of 38 regulators that Chalmers and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher contacted last month, looking for new ways to reduce red tape.

So far, regulators have proposed 280 actions, of which half have been put in place or are under way. The rest are new ideas.

State governments will be represented by NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey, the current head of the national committee of treasurers, which met on Friday.

They agreed to focus on four key areas, including faster approvals of major infrastructure projects, a reduction in red tape and regulatory overlap, a lift in competition reform, and speeding up the construction of new homes.

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