MOTIONS

Ms CHANEY (Curtin) (19:27): I support this motion. It says, 'Lifting productivity means removing the costs and barriers that make it harder for businesses to invest, hire and expand.' And I agree; these are important steps. But, as the Productivity Commission said last week, no single policy can bring productivity growth back to its long-term average.

Governments will have to make a lot of pro-productivity decisions, and this motion contains only a handful. Last Wednesday's national accounts showed the economy grew 2.1 per cent over the year. That sounds reasonable, until you see hours worked grew 2.3 per cent.

All of that growth came from working more hours, not from working smarter. Over 20 years, growth has slowed to about 0.8 per cent, and it will not fix itself. When productivity stops, wages stop.

Real wages fell more than five per cent in the five years from 2021. For the people I represent, that means pay that doesn't keep up with the cost of living, young people who will not do better than their parents and less room to fund aged care, disability support and climate action, unless we raise taxes or cut something else. The reforms outlined in this motion are good., but this is not a plan to turn around a two-decade slide.

Let me suggest three levers we are barely using. The first lever is research and development. Productivity growth comes from new ideas, and R&D is how you get them.

Universities Australia estimates that, over the last 30 years, every dollar spent on university research has grown the economy by $5. But Australia spends about 1.7 per cent of GDP on R&D, down from 2.2 per cent in 2009 and below the OECD average of 2.7. No, we don't need another review.

Ambitious Australia, completed nearly a year ago, has 20 recommendations. It's the most thorough look at this system in decades. The Academy of Science has asked the government to get on with implementing it as a package, and so do I.

The second lever is immigration. Instead of arguing about how many people come, let's look at how we boost productivity through better, more effective migration settings. Activate Australia's Skills, an alliance of more than 100 businesses, unions and community groups, found 44 per cent of permanent migrants work below their skill level.

More than 250,000 face blockages to working in their regulated professions. Let them work in their own fields, and their productive contribution rises by an average of $43,000 a year each. We need to fix the system for recognising overseas skills and qualifications while upholding standards and will soon see the productivity gains.

The third lever is artificial intelligence. Last week's accounts really tell a story here. Private investment was flat, but new building construction rose.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Dr Haines ): Order! It being 7.30 pm, the time allotted for this debate has expired.