QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator WHITTEN (Western Australia) (14:41): My question is to the Minister representing the Treasurer, Minister Gallagher. Australia's labour productivity has barely moved since 2016 and ranks amongst the weakest in the advanced world. The Reserve Bank's head of economic analysis, Michael Plumb, said the lack of capital deepening, meaning less capital investment per worker, has held back labour productivity—more people, less capital.

The Australian reported last week that the Treasurer will deliver the worst decade for productivity since records began in 1960. Given that net overseas migration more than doubled from the mid-2000s and then hit record levels under this government, does the government accept that high immigration has produced capital shallowing and is a material cause of Australia's productivity slump?