Jim Chalmers pretends to care about productivity

In March, Treasurer Jim Chalmers told the nation’s corporate leaders that Australia’s economy is “not productive enough, not competitive and not dynamic enough” and that this situation is “not acceptable to me or to the government that Anthony Albanese leads”.

Chalmer’s hand wringing came amid Australia’s worst productivity slump in 60 years.

The AFR’s John Kehoe reported that the Productivity Commission (PC) has only one active inquiry directed by the federal government. Treasurer Chalmers did not meet with Commission members in person when it handed down its five-year productivity inquiry report, Advancing Prosperity, last year.