On Monday the Gillard government's Business Tax Working Group released its report calling for the corporate tax rate to be cut from 30 per cent to 25 per cent.
Yesterday the Gillard government's Prime Minister's Manufacturing Taskforce released its report calling for more protection from overseas competition, more tax breaks for research and development, and more government spending to stimulate the economy.
Both reports miss the point.
The reason a recent survey of executives of foreign companies operating in Australia found that they were less likely to invest in this country now than a year ago is not because of the things identified by the reports as in need of reform.
The reason executives give for Australia's decline as an investment destination is because it's getting more difficult and more expensive to do business here. For proof of this one need look no further than to the stories that appeared on page three of this newspaper on Wednesday.
At the top of the page there was a story of decisions from each of the Federal Court and Fair Work Australia.
In the first case, the Federal Court upheld the validity of a workplace agreement between the Electrical Trades Union and a Melbourne company, ADJ Contracting, that required the company to encourage employees to join the union. Meanwhile, Fair Work Australia decided that Endeavour Australia, an electricity company owned by the NSW government, was not allowed to introduce urine-based drug tests as the company had wanted, and instead could only use saliva testing.
Although urine tests are more accurate, unions argued they were ''invasive'' and inappropriate because they would detect long-term drug taking.
Another story on the same page was about how Nick Xenophon, the independent senator from South Australia, had suggested small business should not have to pay penalty rates.
He said: ''When employees are telling you they are happy being paid $25 an hour on Sunday, because they will get work, rather than a penalty rate of $40, but the restaurant is closed, well something is fundamentally wrong and needs fixing.'' Indeed.
Wednesday wasn't a particularly special day for coverage of industrial relations. On other days readers could learn about how in Victoria police refused to remove a picket line, which a court had previously declared illegal, outside a warehouse, and about how Fair Work Australia decided an employee couldn't be fired for telling his manager to ''get f---ed''.
The report of the Business Tax Working Group was a useful academic exercise. But that's all it is.
Its terms of reference required it to find savings to match the revenue forgone from the tax cut. Over four years, that equals $26 billion. It's not unreasonable for the government to want matching savings, but it means the business community isn't going to agree any time soon to give up specific tax benefits in exchange for a company tax cut that might never come.
As the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said: ''It's like turkeys voting for Christmas.''
Most of the manufacturing taskforce report is interesting because its discussion is about keeping and growing existing manufacturing industries such as making motor vehicles.
''Green jobs'' are almost nowhere to be seen in the report. One of the justifications for the carbon tax was that it would create a whole new raft of ''green'' companies to replace all those old and dirty companies put out of business by the carbon tax.
Some of the unions represented on the taskforce may still say such things, but at least, as judged by the taskforce, they don't believe it. The taskforce suggested that the carbon tax should ''link'' to overseas schemes. Exactly what this means is unclear but having a rate of tax on carbon dioxide emissions that is much higher than anywhere else in the world certainly makes it difficult to ''link'' to the rest of the world. You don't see a statement that the carbon tax is good for manufacturing.
The taskforce recommended ''a new national conversation'' about productivity. It said Australia needed ''a sustained commitment from industry, unions and government to build the managerial and workforce skills and practices — and the innovation culture — that high-performance workplaces demand''. The trouble with all these fine-sounding words is that it's a bit hard to have a conversation with an employee who's swearing at you.
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