Young Australians may endure worse lives than their parents, ‘worried’ productivity chief warns | Productivity Commission

Young Australians may endure worse lives than their parents, the nation’s productivity chief has warned.

Danielle Wood, the chair of the Productivity Commission, said young people are facing a future of lower wages, increased costs and the impacts of climate breakdown without major government action to tackle major economic challenges.

Wood also urged the government to not put new regulations on AI, claiming existing rules on fraud, safety and discrimination are already sufficient – an argument running counter to human rights experts and unions calling for greater protections against abuse and for workers.

On the eve of the Albanese government’s economic reform summit, with its key focus on productivity, Wood will address the National Press Club in Canberra on Monday.

She said Australia must adopt a “growth mindset” and boost productivity to solve looming problems for future generations, saying it was “the only way to sustainably lift wages and opportunities over time”.

“Overwhelmingly, young people today believe they won’t live better lives than their parents did. As chair of the Productivity Commission, I’m worried too,” Wood will tell the Press Club, according to a speech notes released ahead of the address.

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Wood’s speech blames recent Australian governments for key challenges facing young people, pointing to “policy choices” for house prices growing faster than incomes, and claiming politicians have “for so long avoided the lowest cost policy choices” in dealing with climate change.

Wood will say productivity comes from better skills and training, new technologies and policy settings making it easier to switch jobs or run a business. The commission has, in the lead-up to the roundtable, released several major reports suggesting changes to tax settings, workforce issues and training, and technology among others.

Amid criticism of the summit before it had even been held, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, maintained the exercise had already been a success, claiming it had helped focus Australians’ attention on productivity and the economic challenges faced by the government.

A YouGov survey of 1,500 people, conducted for community organisation Amplify, last week found 73% of Australians either did not know or were unsure about the summit, and only 29% were confident it would lead to meaningful change.

Around two-thirds of people surveyed believed productivity increases would mean people had to work harder, with the benefits going to bosses, but the same percentage believed it would lead to more job opportunities.

“We’ve focused the country on the productivity challenge. We’ve gotten people accustomed to dealing with the economic and fiscal trade‑offs that governments deal with every day,” Chalmers said on Sunday.