ANZ's chief executive, Mike Smith, has added to growing calls among business leaders for a sovereign wealth fund to ensure Australia does not squander its windfall from the mining boom.
Such a fund should be used as a driving force for investment in infrastructure, Mr Smith said, but tax reform was needed before it could be established.
His comments in Melbourne yesterday add to calls published last week in BusinessDay from some of Australia's most senior business figures for the federal government to reconsider ways to secure more from the resource windfall with a long-term investment fund.
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''There is no doubt that we should be using these boom times to create some sort of sovereign fund for the future - I think that would be a sensible idea - and if that fund was going, to invest in infrastructure,'' Mr Smith told a forum of the Committee for Economic Development in Australia.
''The problem we have on introducing a tax on industry is that as soon as another industry is doing well - it's a good idea to create another tax. We all pay corporate tax; that should be enough. There should be enough tax revenue for it to be used properly.''
Last year's first version of the resource super profits gax had been floated too early in the reform process, he said.
''Our policy debate was the poorer for it … and the perception of foreign investors about Australia was poorer for it as well.''
African, Asian and South American countries were working much harder than Australia to improve their position over the fight for global capital to fund resource developments, he said, so Australia needed a new wave of reform to drive future growth and productivity, including more labour and tax reforms and more spending on research and development.
Australia could not afford to ''frighten off foreign investors by giving oxygen to poorly thought-through, populist policy proposals'', he said. ''Without these investors … growth in Australia will stall.''
The political will for reform was lacking, he said, but he was confident it could be put back on the agenda.
''We need to encourage a frank, open and constructive exchange and avoid shouting down those with longer term perspective that go beyond this year's political cycle,'' Mr Smith said.
Source: http://www.smh.com.au
Such a fund should be used as a driving force for investment in infrastructure, Mr Smith said, but tax reform was needed before it could be established.
His comments in Melbourne yesterday add to calls published last week in BusinessDay from some of Australia's most senior business figures for the federal government to reconsider ways to secure more from the resource windfall with a long-term investment fund.
Advertisement: Story continues below
''There is no doubt that we should be using these boom times to create some sort of sovereign fund for the future - I think that would be a sensible idea - and if that fund was going, to invest in infrastructure,'' Mr Smith told a forum of the Committee for Economic Development in Australia.
''The problem we have on introducing a tax on industry is that as soon as another industry is doing well - it's a good idea to create another tax. We all pay corporate tax; that should be enough. There should be enough tax revenue for it to be used properly.''
Last year's first version of the resource super profits gax had been floated too early in the reform process, he said.
''Our policy debate was the poorer for it … and the perception of foreign investors about Australia was poorer for it as well.''
African, Asian and South American countries were working much harder than Australia to improve their position over the fight for global capital to fund resource developments, he said, so Australia needed a new wave of reform to drive future growth and productivity, including more labour and tax reforms and more spending on research and development.
Australia could not afford to ''frighten off foreign investors by giving oxygen to poorly thought-through, populist policy proposals'', he said. ''Without these investors … growth in Australia will stall.''
The political will for reform was lacking, he said, but he was confident it could be put back on the agenda.
''We need to encourage a frank, open and constructive exchange and avoid shouting down those with longer term perspective that go beyond this year's political cycle,'' Mr Smith said.
Source: http://www.smh.com.au
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