Nationals senator to hold rival roundtable focusing on energy as Albanese welcomes leaders to economic summit

Nationals senator Matt Canavan will host his own roundtable to rival Anthony Albanese’s three-day economy summit.

The Prime Minister kicked off Labor’s Economic Reform Roundtable on Tuesday, spruiking it as a “big opportunity” to boost Australia’s sluggish productivity and make the economy better suited for the 21st century.

Business leaders, unions and policy experts have gathered at Parliament House for the highly anticipated talks.

Cutting red tape has emerged a key theme, with both the private sector and government agencies calling for regulations to be slimmed down or made fit-for-purpose.

But Senator Canavan, an anti-net zero crusader, has said everyone at the table was “ignoring” the elephant in the room – energy prices.

“Labor’s productivity roundtable is ignoring those parts of our economy that are suffering from higher energy prices and burdensome regulations,” he posted on social media.

“After adjusting for the ‘quality’ of the hours worked, only four sectors of our economy have had negative productivity over the past 20 years: energy, mining, manufacturing and construction.

“All of these industries have been hurt by Australia’s skyrocketing energy prices.

“But the Government is ignoring the topic of energy prices at its so-called ‘productivity’ roundtable.

“Labor does not even have a plan anymore to lower power prices.”

He is expected to release further details of his roundtable later on Tuesday.

Opening Labor’s roundtable earlier on Monday morning, Mr Albanese said the question to be answered was “how does our economy become more productive, more resilient” amid seismic changes, from artificial intelligence to geopolitical turmoil.

He pointed to his government’s pledge to build 1.2 million homes by 2030 as an example of where action was needed.

“You don’t have a target, you’re not going to be trying to get there,” Mr Albanese said.

“We think we can get there, and we can get there by making sure that we remove some of the impediments which are there.

“How do we identify them? Those impediments aren’t just planning, of course, they’re skills, they’re labour impediments, as well.”

He said he expected the roundtable to produce ideas that could translate into policy immediately but also some that would bear fruit further down the track.

Earlier, opposition finance spokesman James Paterson said the Coalition was going into the talks hoping they “succeed”, but said “the signs aren’t good”.

“We’re participating in a constructive way because we agree with the government – productivity was smashed in their first term in office,” Senator Paterson told Nine.

“We can’t afford that to happen again in their second term, so we want this to succeed.

“But I’m really worried that this is going to be a total flop today in Canberra and that nothing really concrete and nothing really meaningful is going to come out of it.”

He also echoed calls to slash regulation and highlighted the Coalition’s election pitch to pause the National Construction Code, which has been widely criticised as unnecessarily driving up house prices.

Senator Paterson said it seemed “like the number one concrete idea that’s going to come out of the roundtable”.

“So if that gets frozen, then that will be a big step forward,” he said.

More to come....