Jonathan Kelly

The Australian Investment Council has released Building a Resilient Future, a policy blueprint for economic and jobs growth. The blueprint highlights the private capital industry’s view of key policies for consideration by an incoming government in building a prosperous and resilient future for Australia.

“Australia has an opportunity to build upon the productivity-enhancing impact of businesses underpinned by technology with robust policies that support the growth and expansion of businesses aligned with core industries of the future,” said Jonathan Kelly, Interim CEO of the Australian Investment Council.

“The Council and its members believe that sustainable, long-term economic growth requires policies that focus on encouraging the flow of investment capital and a globally competitive investment regime; providing world-class infrastructure assets; and supporting funding and growth for the commercialisation of innovation.

“These policies should be underpinned by the government’s digital economy strategy to secure economy growth, the development of skills aligned to future jobs and the acceleration and development of technology as an enabler of businesses across all sectors of the economy,” Mr Kelly said.

The Council has identified six policy priority areas which are relevant to any incoming government:

1. Building a world class investment regime – introduce a flow-through, international best practice Limited Partnership Collective Investment Vehicle to support the broader policy objectives of building Australia as a financial services hub and major supplier of global financial services and ensure policies around foreign investment provide clarity and certainty for market participants
2. Strengthening trade ties regionally and globally – ensure policy settings through bilateral and multilateral agreements encourage trade and investment and that reciprocal arrangements can be made for the flow of foreign investment capital and human capital
3. Building the next generation of global talent – commit to a world class education system that is dedicated to developing the right skills and experience for a knowledge-based economy
4. Redefining university commercialisation – incentivise closer ties between universities and private sector investors to commercialise university research and continue to establish innovation precincts to create a culture of collaboration, innovation and public engagement for the development of new businesses and industries.
5. Reforming taxation – including a reduction in the headline tax rate for all Australian businesses and reducing reliance on direct tax and rebalancing towards a greater reliance on ‘user pays’ pricing mechanisms and indirect taxes
6. Reducing ‘red tape’ – only regulating when there is a clear and unavoidable need and where new laws or regulations are required, they are enabled through technology.

Building a Resilient Future outlines several pillars to underpin these policy priorities including keeping borders open, maintaining a flow of investment capital, protecting against cyber threats, achieving net zero and managing the economy against a backdrop of higher inflation.

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[1] Building a Resilient Future

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