Albanese's 'productivity' summit: a political show with no substance

The Albanese government this week is running a three-day economic summit, previously to be the productivity summit, promised during the recent election.

It was the result of growing evidence that not only has Australia's productivity growth been trending downwards since the mid-2000s, including during the nine years of coalition government, but has also been assessed as declining under the Albanese government.

Of course, one wonders why a summit is needed given that Albanese, in his 2022 election speech, declared that if elected, his government was going to "embark on a new era of economic reform with productivity growth at the centre". Does this mean that in Albanese's first term nothing was done to address the productivity issue, or if so, what was done was ineffective?

Some expert commentators believe that the Albanese government's first-term policies have been the antithesis of promoting productivity and that it avoided even trying to make any of the tough necessary decisions so as to win the 2025 election. It was brilliant politics that worked but we are now in catch up -hence the summit.

It is not clear if the summit is where the Albanese government tells us what its second-term agenda is - or rather is when the Albanese government finds out itself, through the deals and compromises that are inevitably a part of these events, what its second-term agenda is going to be.

Unwisely, the coalition opposition is participating in the summit party, with Ted O'Brien, the shadow treasurer, attending. He will have to deal with the summit's smorgasbord of mixed-up policy servings and thus respond to Albanese's set policy menu. Too often during the 2025 election we saw the coalition get its policy cues from the government and not just match the government's policies and spending sprees but sometimes promise them even more.

Governments love bipartisanship; it saves them from any effort in justifying their latest idea or in defending the sometimes indefensible.

And we all know what happens at summit events - many are invited from business and community groups, along with those with close formal and personal links to the government. In such an atmosphere, consensus is easier than opposing. It is hard to reject the pressures of a re-elected government with an increased majority and with whom you have to work with on a daily basis for the next three years. It will be even harder for an opposition, defeated at the polls to be heard or even taken seriously at such an event.

So, all this means that the economic summit will allow the Albanese government to continue to dominate the policy agenda and the narrative that makes it all sound so reasonable.

Rather, the Opposition should have run their own summit. It is supposed to be a "government in waiting" with its own policies ready to take office. It could have set its own agenda and invited experts along with interest groups and in a less high-profile event allowed a wide range of views to be expressed more freely and disagreements even encouraged. In other words, to address the policy problems the nation faces rather than to manage the politics.

Unfortunately, Queensland National Party backbench senator Matt Canavan on Wednesday is running his own half-day summit - 'the real productivity summit,' he calls it.

While this has some significant experts attending and several key industry leaders, the real problem is that Canavan is a backbencher and not part of the Coalition's shadow ministry. Thus, whatever his summit produces has no formal coalition policy status.

If Canavan can do this, does it mean that any coalition backbencher can run their own policy talkfest on any topic regardless of the coalition's formal policy stance on an issue?

All this makes the opposition and the coalition parties look incoherent, disunited and lacking focus, but that's hardly new in non-Labor politics given recent events and losses? Perhaps Senator Canavan should leave the cosiness of his safe coalition senate spot and run as an independent and see how far he gets.

Compare the coalition to the Albanese government - it is focused, strategic, networked and politically skilled - and wins. Whether its policies are the right ones is another issue.