I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and I pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging.
It is a pleasure to be back at the BCA's Annual Dinner and to be joined by so many of my colleagues.
We take pride in the fact that we are a Cabinet Government - and that is reflected in the way we engage with the business community, across portfolios.
Thank you to Geoff Culbert and to Bran Black for hosting us this evening.
Back in February this year, Bran and I were at the launch of the new Roadmap for Australia's Economic Engagement with India, at Deakin University in Melbourne.
Less than a week earlier, the Reserve Bank had cut interest rates for the first time since 2020.
We spoke about that significant milestone, a sign that the Australian economy was turning the corner.
Our nation has made substantial progress since then.
Interest rates have been cut three times this year already.
Inflation has now been in the RBA target band for four quarters in a row.
And unlike other countries, we have brought inflation down without sacrificing people's jobs.
Unemployment has held steady at near 50-year lows.
Real wages have grown, seven quarters in a row.
The gender pay gap is at an all-time low - and women's workforce participation is at a record high.
And last week's National Accounts showed that economic growth is gathering strength.
In a time of ongoing global economic uncertainty, there is no major advanced economy growing faster than Australia.
And - importantly - this is being led by the private sector.
The private sector is resuming its rightful place as the driver of growth in our economy.
Over the past few years, like every advanced economy in the world, Australia has been grappling with the worst global inflation since the 1980s and the biggest international energy crisis since the 1970s.
No country has come through this global storm in better shape than we have.
In the years ahead, our challenge - and our responsibility - is to secure and repay the progress that the Australian people have made.
To reward the hard work we have done together in getting inflation down by working together to get growth and productivity up.
This is what Bran and I were talking about in February.
Back then, we agreed that the beginning of a second term would be a good time to bring together government, business, unions and civil society to build agreement on reforms to boost productivity.
This was the spirit and the purpose of the Economic Reform Roundtable that I announced at the National Press Club in June and that the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, convened at Parliament House last month.
Over 40 Ministerial forums and more than 900 individual submissions fed into those conversations.
I know Jim did an extraordinary amount of work to bring all of that together -
and we are already seeing real progress as a result.
I do want to make the point that for our Government, engaging constructively with business is not a one-off event in Canberra.
We do it every week of the year, in every part of the country.
Because we value the insights you offer, as drivers of economic growth, creators of jobs and leaders in innovation.
And we respect the vital role you play in Australia's engagement with the world.
In all the work our Government is doing to deepen and diversify our economic partnerships with India and South East Asia.
To boost our two-way investment with the United States.
And to continue to strengthen our trade with China.
Business leaders have been at the forefront of these efforts - and key to their success.
We know that when you take your ideas, products, food and fibre and resources and services to the world, that creates jobs in Australia.
Your work enhances Australia's global reputation as a leading destination for investment.
It reinforces that we are a great country to do business with.
And a key priority for our Government is making sure that Australia remains a great place for you to do business.
That is why we're investing in the skills, education and technology that will enable workers and businesses to compete and succeed in a changing global economy.
It is why we are working to deliver more affordable and reliable energy and provide the foundation of certainty and clarity in energy policy.
In Opposition, my colleagues and I consulted closely with business and industry ahead of announcing our climate and energy plans.
This was about more than laying out the target we were setting for 2030, more than a figure - it was about the framework we would build and use to get there.
The leadership and advocacy of the BCA and your members was critical to the success of this process.
Business has seen, firsthand, the damage done to Australia's international relationships and to our economy by the ideological conflict of the climate wars.
A decade in which energy policy became untethered from reality.
Where, even as 24 out of 28 Australia's coal-fired power stations were announcing their timeline for closure, there was no coherent plan to replace them.
Business and industry don't have that luxury of pretending change is not occurring.
You have to deal with the real world - and you have to be able to plan for the long term.
That's what the framework we have built is all about.
We have one energy policy - and we are delivering it.
Renewables, backed by gas and storage through batteries.
Our Capacity Investment Scheme is unlocking more than $70 billion of investment in new generation.
Our Safeguard Mechanism is helping business and industry invest in technology that cuts their emissions.
And they are working alongside the significant contribution that Australian homes and small businesses are making, with their embrace of rooftop solar - and now batteries.
Households, business and industry are just getting on with it.
In a typically Australian way, focused on the practical, with a minimum of fuss.
This is the foundation we have to keep building on.
Because the global shift to clean energy is the biggest economic transformation since the industrial revolution.
And it is a profound economic opportunity for Australia.
I note the BCA climate report published last week, was entitled: "Maximising our Potential".
That's what this is all about.
Because if we act now, if we get it right, we can set our nation up for a new era of growth and prosperity.
One built on our strengths as a high-skill, fair wage economy.
And one true to our values of fairness, aspiration and opportunity for all.
Australia has everything that a world economy moving to clean energy needs.
The critical minerals and the traditional resources.
The sunlight and the space which enables us to co-locate extraction and refining, with processing and manufacturing, powered by renewables.
And if we combine that with the right infrastructure and skills and research, we can be a destination of choice for data centres and the new jobs of the digital economy as well.
This is Australia's best opportunity to build an economy that is more resilient, more diversified - and more decentralised, because regional Australia has so much to gain.
All of this is within reach - but only if we back ourselves.
Only if we invest in our people and their capacity, our businesses and their ideas.
And only if we move together, with ambition and urgency.
Because the world is not waiting for us.
And we know what will happen if we hang back or hesitate or lower our sights, we've seen it before.
Every solar panel in the world contains Australian genius and Australian research.
So much of it originating in universities right here in Sydney.
But the government of the day failed to recognise the potential of those breakthroughs.
Or to encourage their commercialisation here in Australia.
We cannot miss a chance like that again.
The new investments and incentives and production tax credits in our Government's Future Made in Australia plan reflects our determination to make this moment count.
To make the most of our unparalleled national advantages.
And to make more things here, bringing a new generation of good jobs to our regions and suburbs.
This task is bigger than any one sector, or program.
For Australia to fully grasp this generational opportunity, we need to build a more dynamic, resilient and productive economy across the board.
By breaking down barriers to investment and job creation.
By clearing away unnecessary regulation that has accumulated over decades.
By making it easier for business to hire workers with the right skills, when and where they're needed.
And making it easier to deal with government, at every level - so you get a clear answer, sooner.
Whether you are a small business looking to expand, or a big firm advocating for a major project.
Last month's Economic Reform Roundtable created a focal point for these issues.
And it has already delivered important progress on many of them, driven by the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers.
Of course, we were not seeking - or expecting - agreement on every question.
There will always be a diversity of views, even within the business community itself.
Yet what was notable was the extent of the common ground.
Not just across business - but between business, unions and the government.
As a result, in a number of important areas, we have been able to pick up that consensus and run with it.
In housing, we are fast-tracking assessment of more than 26,000 homes that have been awaiting approval for far too long.
We are freezing the National Construction Code for four years - while we work to streamline it.
Because at the moment, it runs over 1,500 pages.
We will be bringing forward action on national environmental law reforms.
Our Government aims to introduce legislation before the end of the year: for stronger environmental protection, more efficient assessments and greater transparency in decision-making.
And we are abolishing around another 500 nuisance tariffs, which will mean we have eliminated nearly 1,000 tariffs in the past two years.
These are tariffs that cost more to collect than they raise in revenue.
At the same time the hassle and the compliance costs they impose on Australian business are real.
And just as our Government consistently advocates for free and fair trade and its benefits in our dealings with the world, we back that up here at home.
Beyond these immediate actions, we made valuable progress in other areas.
And we want to keep that dialogue going, leading into future Budgets.
In skills and training, so Australian workers in high demand can have their qualifications recognised across state borders.
In tax reform, looking at fair and affordable ways to incentivise greater business investment and capital deepening.
And in Artificial Intelligence.
Ensuring we get the balance right, so that our people and our businesses have the skills and confidence to unlock the productivity benefits of AI, while safeguarding themselves against its risks.
Our Government is not pretending to have discovered all of these issues.
I am sure there are shelves full of BCA reports calling for the abolition of nuisance tariffs.
An archive of pre-budget submissions advocating for national licensing reform, going back to the Howard Government.
And many business leaders in this room have been longstanding supporters of a better, clearer and more efficient approvals process.
The issues are not new. What is new - and what matters - is that, together, we are doing something about them.
We are working together to get things done, to deliver, in the national interest.
That focus on delivery is what drives our Government.
Repaying trust by fulfilling the commitments Australians voted for in May.
And building trust by demonstrating that a focused, reforming government can make a practical and positive difference to people's lives.
This is how we make the case for future economic reform, by showing people where they fit in.
By giving people that sense of agency and ownership - and importantly, optimism.
We have to prove that measures which boost productivity, drive business investment and cut red tape, bring real and lasting benefits to our nation as a whole.
Everyone in this room can take pride in what Australia has been able to achieve over the last three years, in the face of global economic uncertainty.
And by working together, by engaging with each other, by continuing to focus on practical change in the national interest, we can secure the progress we have made together, and push forward.
We can build a stronger, fairer, more productive and more resilient economy.
With greater opportunities for business, for workers - and for all Australians.
I look forward to continuing to work with all of you.
