Opinion Articles

This opinion article by Jennifer Westacott was published in the Australian Financial Review on 20 November 2017.

As Australians face the big challenges of this century – including technological disruption, demographic pressures and environmental sustainability – we desperately need to raise the level and tone of debate in this country, writes Jennifer Westacott.

Smaller businesses need big business and vice versa; it’s a complex ecosystem in which each member plays its part, Jennifer Westacott writes.

Download: Jennifer Westacott in The Australian Business Executive

Numbers alone don't capture what is to me a key attraction for US investment – and an area where Australia could learn significantly: a strong supportive business-friendly culture.

Academics and journalists can spend their time debating whether a technical measure of inequality has marginally increased or diminished over time, but that’s cold comfort to people who are doing it tough. They need hope that they can build a better life

Much of the political debate about important changes Australia needs to make is focused around one question: what is fair?

Australians are asking why wages are stagnating, and what the age of drones, robots and artificial intelligence herald for them and their families, Jennifer Westacott writes for The Weekend Australian.

If government were to finance or underwrite a new coal-fired power plant, it would further frighten private investors and force taxpayers to potentially bankroll a second, third or fourth power station, writes Grant King.

We must stop pitting small business against big business as the reality is the trade between all businesses represents around one third of our economy.

Few corners of Australian society are being spared the impact of globalisation, yet those who are most vulnerable to our uncertain world economy are routinely missing from the conversation about how to manage it, writes Jennifer Westacott.

Countless well-meaning programs have tried to close the persistent gaps in life outcomes experienced by indigenous people but all the best evidence indicates economic advancement is the key to overcoming entrenched disadvantage, Jennifer Westacott writes.

In choosing to build and operate the Western Sydney airport itself, Canberra will need to overturn recent history and demonstrate that it can deliver major projects as well as the private sector, write Brendan Lyon and Jennifer Westacott.

What differentiates this budget from previous ones is that we’ve let the proverbial genie out of the bottle by relying on tax increases to restore the budget, writes Grant King.

Our nation has two broadly competing philosophies of what’s fair, both of which are understandable, but one of which is unsustainable over the long term, Jennifer Westacott writes in The Weekend Australian.

Ultimately the budget must make our nation more prosperous by spending taxpayers' money more wisely and growing future revenues by growing the economy, writes Jennifer Westacott.

As we continue pushing teenagers into universities, the number of apprentices in training has fallen by 45 per cent over the last four years – a difference of almost a quarter-million people, Jennifer Westacott writes.

If you had $2 billion, would you invest it in Australia’s east-coast electricity generation market? Jennifer Westacott writes for The Australian.

Parliamentarians who are weighing up whether to accept the independent umpire’s decision on penalty rates must ask themselves five critical questions, says Jennifer Westacott.

You can't say we weren't warned about the federal budget when the nation's foremost economists and policy experts have been raising alarm for more than a decade about a perfect storm brewing on the nation's balance sheet, writes Jennifer Westacott.

We must strive for every skerrick of growth because it is the only means of sustaining higher living standards, greater opportunity and support for those in need, says Grant King.

Poorly designed regulation can instill false confidence that an issue is being properly addressed or, even worse, inflame the problem that it was supposed to eliminate – the well-known syndrome of unintended consequences, writes Danny Gilbert.

In this turbulent era, it is becoming ever more important to stand up for the shared values that bind countries such as Australia and Canada together, write Jennifer Westacott and Norman Steinberg.

Opinion: Measurement and public transparency of health data, both at an institutional and individual level, is one of the most effective pathways to long-term healthcare effectiveness, writes Rohan Mead.

Jennifer Westacott and Tony Mahar: Fulfilling our country’s massive potential to supply Asian markets won’t happen automatically.

The current state of enterprise bargaining typifies the cracks appearing in our workplace relations system – a system that is becoming increasingly adversarial and regulated, and ultimately disempowering workers and employers, writes Jennifer Westacott.

We must continually strive towards a socially just and cohesive society with better jobs, higher wages and a strong social safety net, writes Jennifer Westacott.

We need to encourage innovation in our economy, not to fear it, writes Tim Reed

The essential challenge for 2017 is to seize the opportunities, and avoid the pitfalls, that have been left the wake of a tumultuous year, writes Jennifer Westacott.

Arguments for burdening enterprises with high taxes demand to be challenged, writes Jennifer Westacott.

The message from the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook was unequivocal: the nation simply cannot spend what it can’t afford, writes Jennifer Westacott.

Australia’s different value system and societal structure – evidenced by Medicare, mass education and the welfare safety net – are our greatest protection against division.

High-quality teaching is the biggest in-school factor determining student outcomes, so it’s vital that governments increase focus on teacher quality, writes Jennifer Westacott.

Populist politicians who target business should tell their voters to expect years of low growth - and tell them why.

Restoring the ABCC is vital to get regional areas and towns like Townsville going.

When Australian businesses are not globally competitive, the consequences are felt in suburban streets and regional towns.

Link: Tell the parliament why SA needs lower company tax

Restoring the ABCC is vital to creating a healthier culture in the building and construction industry and ending unlawful and inappropriate behaviour.

The big four professional services firms agree cutting company tax leads to big benefits for Australians, and our national economy.

All competition laws should be well drafted, but those addressing the misuse of market power matter more than most. Following the Government’s decision to implement the recommendations of the Harper Review, more needs to be done to get the drafting right.

The simple fact is we cannot afford not to reduce our company tax rate for all businesses. We cannot ignore the reality that Australia operates in a global economy. We are fooling ourselves if we think that we can opt out of it.

We have an expression we use constantly at the Business Council: “Doing nothing doesn’t mean nothing will happen”.

For many Australian families, getting access to the right kind of government support at the right time is the key to setting them up for future success in life.

Business groups representing more than 360,000 businesses employing more than 6.2 million people explain why, in a global environment, a more competitive company tax rate is vital for a strong Australia.

Global uncertainty in the wake of Brexit reinforces the imperative for consistent policies to ensure Australia is a competitive destination for foreign investments.

BCA Member, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, writes in the Herald Sun newspaper about how a trip to his homeland of Ireland reminded him why lower company tax will help Australia's economy take off.

The election winner must not forget the issue that triggered the double-dissolution - restoration of the ABCC.

In the heat of an election campaign, the debate can narrow to a few emotive themes, often captured by simple slogans. Lost in the moment is the depth and extent of the debate we need to have about the long term.

Having a vibrant business sector, one that continually strives to grow by investing, employing more workers, paying decent wages and making strong returns for shareholders, has been fundamental to Australia’s unbroken growth over the last quarter century.

Politicians who wish to spend more of other people’s money, but fail to understand that it is future investment decisions that deliver future revenues, keep trying to squeeze more out of the same business golden goose.

This election, politics has obscured and distorted the facts that the community needs to know to properly appreciate the deep benefits we all gain from a strong businesses environment, including a more competitive business tax system.

When you attack business, you attack the prospects of every Australian worker, because business together employs more than 10 million Australians – eight in every 10 workers.

Who are the taxpayers who ultimately foot the bill for the promises made during an election campaign, whether on a “spend-o-meter” or elsewhere?

On the eve of the federal Budget, and more likely an election, the issue of fairness is becoming a central theme against which policies will be measured, and on which some are seeking to claim the moral ground.

Australia needs a cyber security strategy that builds capability and resilience to support the transition underway in the economy.

The harsh truth is that Australia’s global economic competitiveness ranking has fallen from tenth a decade ago to 21st, behind New Zealand.

Reinstating the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) is the best option we have to drive the fundamental and systemic cultural reform of Australia’s vital building and construction industry.

The changes to Section 46 pose a major problem for the growth of our economy and add a new regulatory risk that will make the decision to innovate less attractive.

While the tax debate has fixated on particular taxes, we’ve lost sight of what it all means for individual Australians, their families and the next generation. And there is one point on which almost all of us would agree. Nobody likes a tax increase.

Doing nothing on tax is not an option because the tax system affects so many decisions that influence how quickly we can grow the economy in this challenging new world.

We must get the NDIS right from the outset to avoid a harsh impact on the most vulnerable people in the community.

Reinstating the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) should be the easiest decision the Australian Senate can make, and an opportunity to show leadership at a time when its capacity to represent the interests of voters is under question.

Real tax reform is not a bookkeeping exercise; it is about reshaping the system to better support our economy to adapt and thrive in the face of significant global economic, demographic and technological change.

Leaving our tax system the way it is now is unproductive, unsustainable and ultimately unfair.

How positive do we feel about our nation’s place in the world and our capacity to realise these opportunities? How confident are we that our children and grandchildren will enjoy the same quality of life as we do, or something even better?