Making productivity great again

Dear ,

We don't usually find ourselves in the same article and on the same side as the Queensland Council of Unions, but from yesterday's Courier Mail it seems like we were.

To the extent we both expressed the same concern, the article is correct, but the unions' concern seems to be more a way to make the new Productivity Commission sound suspect, while our concern was to make it not just good, but great.

I think the union's made a mistake with its tactic, and it's given the Treasurer the opportunity of a judo throw. If he takes their advice he gets a better PC and they lose their grounds for complaint - lose/lose for them and win/win for him..

I've attached our submission so you can read it. You should be able to see where I'm coming from. I don't want to undermine the Commission, I want it to be even stronger and hopefully to become a big feature of how we do government, and a curb on all governments that neglect productivity, because productivity is really important.

The new LNP government finds itself in a difficult spot. Labor was not honest about cost overruns, and deliberately added new spending to the forward estimates in an effort to wedge the Opposition. The budget deficit exploded, and the state is facing a huge future debt, which is larger than we knew during the election because of the direct lies and omissions. (Another $6.5 B potentially added to debt from hidden cost-overruns this morning).

As I believe the new government will try really hard to keep its promises, that means it needs a huge lift in productivity to fix the situation, which makes the new Productivity Commission an absolute necessity. I know the new Treasurer agrees, and I applaud the early implementation of this election promise to create a Productivity Commission.

My only criticism is that it needs to be more powerful than proposed because there is a huge amount of work that needs to be done, and the body needs to be proof from bad faith criticism like that from the QCU, otherwise the public will lack faith in it.

The QCU is criticising the PC proposal because they want to make out it is really a witch hunt against the CFMEU. The QCU is the same organisation that was happy to have the CFMEU as a member, even though everyone knew it was a rogue, renegade union which the federal government has belatedly put into administration.

They have no credibility, but if they can find legitimate grounds for complaint against the policeman, they might be able to help their buddies.

Let's not forget the importance of fixing the CFMEU problem in the building industry in this state which our research estimates adds 30% to the cost of building.

When the traffic controller outside the school being built earns more than the new school principal when she turns up, you know that the world had been tipped upside down and the government is not working for all of us, they're working for their mates.

There's an easy way to deal with the union complaint, which is to the government's benefit. Accept their criticism and make the PC more independent. It will strengthen the standing of any findings it makes, attract a better calibre of commissioner, and make it a little more difficult for the QCU to criticise it.

If the commission is set up properly it will also become a fixture in Queensland political life and ensure that every future government has to at least consider productivity.

Regards,

GRAHAM YOUNG
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR