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.
Can I join in welcoming the many leaders from across the business community here today.
Every morning, when we look at The Australian or turn on Sky News, we are reminded this is a time of significant global uncertainty.
Conflict in the Middle East and Europe.
Upheaval in the world economy.
Strategic competition in our region.
Technology rewriting the way we live and work.
Yet the defining test Australia faces in this decade is not whether we can manage this period of uncertainty.
It's whether we can work together to seize this moment of opportunity.
To build a more secure and prosperous future, the Australian way - with no-one held back and no-one left behind.
In 2025, there is every reason to be optimistic about Australia's economic outlook.
Think about where we are: the fastest growing region of the world in human history.
Think about what we have: the resources and critical minerals every nation needs to power its future growth and meet its net zero commitments.
More than that, the space for refining and processing, the energy to power a new generation of manufacturing and industry.
A world-class university and TAFE sector to train and prepare our future workforce.
A superannuation system that facilitates nation building and makes us a significant global investor.
And a multicultural society that gives us a family connection to every nation on earth.
Then consider what we can do, if we work together to make the most of these advantages.
If we invest in the potential and capacity of our people.
If we make ourselves a clean energy superpower.
An exporter of energy and - and a manufacturer of generation and storage technology.
A stand-out destination for international investment from data centres to green metals.
And a partner and provider of choice to the Indo-Pacific: in everything from food and fibre to education and services.
All of this adds up to a time of profound opportunity for Australia.
But none of it will come knocking on our door, or be gifted to us by anyone else.
We have to back ourselves to go out and seize it.
This means doing more with our traditional economic strengths - and building beyond them.
That's the strategic focus of our Government's plan for a Future Made in Australia.
And our support for buying Australian, from making it easier for families doing their weekly shop to choose Australian made products, to ensuring that government procurement backs local business.
We want to make more things here, in a more competitive and diversified economy.
Boosting our resilience and our self-reliance, so we are not always the last link in the global supply chain.
This is a safeguard against future global volatility.
And it is an investment in our regional engagement.
Because adding value here means we bring more value to our trade partnerships.
This is crucial, especially at a time when free and fair trade is under challenge.
Making more things in Australia, doesn't mean doing less with the Indo-Pacific.
It means creating opportunities to do more.
It was no accident that my first bilateral visit of this term was to Indonesia.
Indonesia was where we launched Nicholas Moore's Invested, our strategy to drive a new generation of business engagement across South East Asia, the 4th largest economy in the world by 2040.
So many of you in this room are helping bring that plan to life with your direct links to these growing economies.
Just as you have played a key part in our Government's patient, deliberate and calibrated stabilisation of the relationship with China.
Clearing away over $20 billion in trade impediments - and now seeing our farmers, growers and producers set new records for their exports.
All this underlines the fact that our Government's support for making things here in Australia is not driven by nostalgia for an old economic model, it is shaped by our recognition of the new model that is emerging.
The world is moving beyond the old equation which held that high-wage, open economies like Australia could not sustain manufacturing locally, because we could not compete on price internationally.
Instead in the years ahead, comparative advantage in manufacturing will not be defined by minimising the cost of labour.
It will be secured by the most productive use of technology, by cutting transport costs and by cheaper, cleaner energy.
For Australia, the ability to co-locate extraction and refining and processing and manufacturing, powered by renewables, gives us an edge over so much of the world.
Building these links in our national value chain also makes it easier for Australian research and innovation to be commercialised and developed here.
And as a Labor Government, we are determined to create the right framework and make the right investments in skills and training to ensure Artificial Intelligence is a contributor, not a competitor.
An enabler of secure and fulfilling jobs, not a threat to them.
In all of this, our nation does not need to go looking overseas for an economic model to copy.
There is nothing for us to gain from a race to the bottom on wages and conditions.
Or the economic self-harm of tariffs.
We want to do this the Australian way.
Not talking Australia down.
Holding true to our values of fairness, aspiration and opportunity for all.
Investing in our people, their ability to adapt to new technology and to develop it.
And drawing out the potential of our whole country.
Because building a more diversified economy is how we create a more decentralised one.
Bringing new jobs and industries from remote communities, to the regions and to growing suburbs as well as our capital cities.
This is the model we have the opportunity to build, an economy that is more resilient and more competitive, more dynamic and more productive.
An Australia that is stronger and fairer. Indeed stronger because we are fairer.
But in order to bring people and business and civil society with us in the pursuit of that vision.
To mobilise all the talent and resources of our nation to meet this moment.
We have to deliver here and now.
To prove the practical value of a reforming government.
To demonstrate that people's democratic choice makes a positive difference.
This means ensuring our economy is rewarding Australians for their hard work.
Nourishing their aspiration and providing the security that enables people to build a good life for themselves and their families.
This is why our Government is focused on repaying the trust Australians have placed in us, by delivering the policies that people voted for.
Stronger Medicare.
Cheaper medicines.
Building more homes.
Lower taxes and higher wages, so Australians earn more and keep more of what they earn.
And meaningful, lasting help with cost of living.
This Tuesday, the 1st of July, marked an important day of delivery.
Another round of energy bill relief for every household and for small business.
The beginning of our Cheaper Home Batteries program.
Cutting 30 per cent off the cost of installing a typical battery. Permanently lowering power bills - and reducing peak demand across the network for everyone.
From Tuesday, nearly 3 million Australians on award wages received a real pay increase.
And the superannuation guarantee for all working Australians was raised to 12 per cent.
We are extending the Instant Asset Write Off for small business.
And our new $10,000 incentive payment for apprentices in construction is now open, helping train more tradies so we can build more homes.
We are expanding government Paid Parental Leave by another two weeks.
And, for the first time ever, adding superannuation to it.
So if you take time away from work to be with your new baby, you don't pay a penalty in retirement.
These measures, together with cheaper child care and historic pay rises for female-dominated industries like aged care and early education reflect the fact that for our Government, equality for women is not an add-on, or an afterthought.
It is a central economic priority.
And it is a source of pride that over the last three years:
Women's economic participation has reached record highs.
The gender pay gap has fallen to record lows.
And Australia has risen from being ranked 50th in the world for gender equality under the Morrison Government.
To 13th - our best ever result.
And whenever we talk about economic growth and productivity, we should all be mindful that equality for women is a powerful driver of both.
Not just the right thing to do a fairer society - the smart thing to do for a stronger economy.
At this forum last year, I said our Government's focus was winning the fight against inflation.
Back then, many economists and our opponents said that the only way to bring inflation down was to drive unemployment up.
And to withdraw the cost of living support we were providing for people under pressure.
We held to our course - and last week proved how much progress Australia has made.
Headline inflation is down to 2.1 per cent.
In the Reserve Bank's target band, 10 months in a row.
There have already been two cuts to interest rates this year.
And over the past three years 1.1 million new jobs have been created, with the lowest average unemployment rate of any government for 50 years.
Like every other advanced economy, Australia has had to deal with the worst global inflation since the 1980s and the biggest international energy crisis since the 1970s, but no other advanced economy has navigated this period like Australia.
Working together, we have brought inflation down without sacrificing people's jobs.
Without cutting essential investments in skills, education, infrastructure and energy.
And without cutting the services Australians count on and deserve.
With the worst of inflation behind us, our economy is turning the corner.
And our primary focus is shifting as a result: from bringing inflation down, to getting growth and productivity up.
The challenges we face in productivity have been more than a decade in the making.
Turning things around will take time - making lasting change always does.
It will require co-operation as well.
Because this is not a task Government can, or should, tackle alone.
In a strong, dynamic and productive economy, government should be a driver of growth - but not the driver of growth.
Facilitating private sector investment and job creation, not seeking to replace it.
That's where we look to the businesses represented in this room.
From big employers to the millions of small businesses right around Australia.
Our Government wants you to be able to resume your rightful place as the primary source of growth in our economy.
That is the essential purpose of the roundtable we are convening in Canberra in August.
We are seeking a broad range of views, so we can build broad agreement for action.
Tax reform will be an important part of this conversation, but not the whole of it.
Because this is also an opportunity to build consensus around practical measures that can be implemented quickly.
Dealing with urgent challenges, in a way that builds for the future.
This is how we deliver and fulfil the agenda we took to the Australian people.
A plan defined by Australian values, built on valuing every Australian.
This includes making it easier for business to create jobs, start and finish projects, invest in new technology and build new facilities.
Some of this involves government doing less.
Clearing away unnecessary or outdated regulation.
Eliminating frustrating overlap between local, state and federal laws.
Yet value also lies in areas where Government can do better.
Better aligning our investments in TAFE and vocational education, to deliver the skilled workforce employers need.
And making sure those vital skills can cross state borders in real time.
Working to our ambitious goals in housing and renewables, by getting projects approved and built faster, while maintaining our commitment to sustainability and safety.
Continuing our reform of government services by setting new standards for access, quality and privacy.
And ensuring that business has the workforce, the skills and the confidence to embrace new technology and embed its productivity benefits in their workplaces.
We are convening this roundtable to help deliver on the commitments Australians voted for.
And because we recognise that the agenda we took to the election is the foundation of our mandate, not the limit of our responsibilities or our vision.
Every government should be in the ideas business.
And no government should imagine it has a monopoly on good ideas.
Whether or not you are a formal participant at the roundtable, we want you involved in the conversation.
More importantly, we want you to help drive the progress that comes from it and to share in the benefits.
And that's the point I will conclude on.
The way all of us - politicians, media, business, civil society - participate in this conversation matters.
Because very often the public debate about change in our economy is conducted only in terms of dire warnings about what the consequences for Australia will be if we get it wrong.
In order to build the broadest possible support for substantive economic reform, we should focus on what we can achieve by getting it right.
By working together to anticipate change and shape it in our national interest.
By empowering people and workforces and communities with a sense of choice and agency.
Creating the fundamental security here and now that enables people to plan and save and build for their future.
And demonstrating that we are determined for new technologies and new industries and new ways of doing business to keep faith with Australia's enduring values.
To serve that oldest and deepest Australian aspiration, the determination to pass on a better life and greater opportunity to your children.
These are uncertain times and, as ever, much of that uncertainty is dictated by events overseas.
We cannot determine the challenges that will confront us - but we can decide how we respond.
Let us continue to invest in our people.
Back our businesses - and back ourselves.
So, we seize and share the opportunities ahead, the Australian way.
