The job's in front of them

The latter undermines aggregate labour productivity and overall living standards.

Two choices: (i) wage flexibility and more employment; (ii) wage rigidity and less employment.

Product markets

Most like competitive markets. For products. Support for competitive labour markets is mixed.

Most also like the cost benefits from exploiting economies of scale. Today, with new technology, these can be really big. Globally, Australia is a relatively small market. That often means fewer product suppliers are viable than in larger markets. Blindly pushing for more and more product suppliers, if successful, can erode cost benefits from economies of scale. So be careful.

Best option is to eliminate barriers to market entry. Including many government barriers.

We've done these things before. We can do them again. If we want to. Do we?

Aiming for these objectives, there are policy changes we should make. Here are some.

• Hire enough law-and-order officers, with fit-for-purpose mandates and legal protection.

• Remove the ban on nuclear fission. Allow assessment of its merits against alternatives.

• Boost drone and aircraft capacity for coastal monitoring. Not least in the north/north-west.

• Tighten visa processes. Priority to domestic security and safety. Publish actual decisions.

• Apply evidence-based policies lifting productivity. Drop empty productivity rhetoric.