7am The economic roundtable: Where is Labor’s ambition?
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Aug 21, 2025 Richard Denniss, Executive Director of The Australia Institute, delves into the significance of the recent economic roundtable in Canberra. He highlights the pressing issues of sluggish productivity and rising intergenerational inequality, particularly affecting young Australians struggling with housing affordability. Denniss critiques the current focus on corporate interests and discusses the need for ambitious policy changes. He also examines the political landscape shaped by millennials' demands for progressive reforms, emphasizing Labor's unique opportunity to address these challenges.
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Intergenerational Inequality Deepens
- Intergenerational inequality is worsening because housing and wealth structures favour owners over renters and dependents on parental support.
- Richard Denniss links this to policy choices like superannuation concessions and capital gains treatment that advantaged older cohorts.
Productivity Is Often Rhetorical Cover
- Productivity means producing more output per unit of input and is the key route to broad prosperity.
- Denniss warns 'productivity' is often invoked to dress up vested interests' policy demands like tax cuts or labour deregulation.
Tax Distortions, Reinvest Revenues
- Tax or remove subsidies that distort resource allocation, like diesel subsidies for miners or unpriced gas exports.
- Use revenues from these measures to fund productive public goods such as childcare or infrastructure.
