Ines, why is this patchwork of time such an issue for business?

Well, for about six months of the year, businesses that are operating nationally across Australia have to now operate on at least four different time zones.

And from the beginning of daylight savings, it means that Queensland is an hour behind Victoria and New South Wales and Tasmania on the east coast.

And it just adds on.

more complications for business.

It impacts productivity.

It means Queensland misses out.

Is this, as far as the options go, a relatively simple way that we could help boost that productivity here?

Innes, why is this patchwork of time such an issue for business?

Well, for about six months of the year, businesses that are operating nationally across Australia have to now operate on at least four different time zones.

And from, you know, the beginning of daylight savings, it means that, you know, Queensland is an hour behind Victoria and New South Wales and Tasmania are on the East Coast, and it just adds more complications for business.

It impacts productivity.

It means, you know, Queensland misses out.

The East Coast of the country, which they sit on, has been up and operating for an hour before, you know, Queensland gets going.

And so they miss out on that front as well.

Is this, as far as the options go, a relatively simple way that we could help boost that productivity here?

Innes, why is this patchwork of time such an issue for business?

Well, for about six months of the year, businesses that are operating nationally across Australia have to now operate on at least four different time zones.

And from, you know, the beginning of daylight savings, it means that, you know, Queensland is an hour behind- Victoria and New South Wales and Tasmania are on the East Coast, and it just adds more complications for business.

It impacts productivity.

It means, you know, Queensland misses out.

The East Coast of the country, which they sit on, has been up and operating for an hour before, you know, Queensland gets going.

And so they miss out on that front as well.

Is this, as far as the options go, a relatively simple way that we could help boost that productivity here?

Ines, why is this patchwork of time such an issue for business?

Well, for about six months of the year, businesses that are operating nationally across Australia have to now operate on at least four different time zones.

And from the beginning of daylight savings, it means that Queensland is an hour behind Victoria and New South Wales and Tasmania on the east coast.

And it just adds on.

more complications for business.

It impacts productivity.

It means Queensland misses out.

Is this, as far as the options go, a relatively simple way that we could help boost that productivity here?

Ines, why is this patchwork of time such an issue for business?

Well, for about six months of the year, businesses that are operating nationally across Australia have to now operate on at least four different time zones.

And from the beginning of daylight savings, it means that Queensland is an hour behind Victoria and New South Wales and Tasmania on the east coast.

And it just adds on.

more complications for business.

It impacts productivity.

It means Queensland misses out.

Is this, as far as the options go, a relatively simple way that we could help boost that productivity here?

Innes, why is this patchwork of time such an issue for business?

Well, for about six months of the year, businesses that are operating nationally across Australia have to now operate on at least four different time zones.

And from, you know, the beginning of daylight savings, it means that, you know, Queensland is an hour behind- Victoria and New South Wales and Tasmania are on the east coast, and it just adds more complications for business.

It impacts productivity.

It means, you know, Queensland misses out.

The east coast of the country, which they sit on, has been up and operating for an hour before, you know, Queensland gets going.

And so they miss out on that front as well.

Is this, as far as the options go, a relatively simple way that we could help boost that productivity here?

Innes, why is this patchwork of time such an issue for business?

Well, for about six months of the year, businesses that are operating nationally across Australia have to now operate on at least four different time zones.

And from, you know, the beginning of daylight savings, it means that, you know, Queensland is an hour behind- Victoria and New South Wales and Tasmania are on the East Coast, and it just adds more complications for business.

It impacts productivity.

It means, you know, Queensland misses out.

The East Coast of the country, which they sit on, has been up and operating for an hour before, you know, Queensland gets going.

And so they miss out on that front as well.

Is this, as far as the options go, a relatively simple way that we could help boost that productivity here?

Innes, why is this patchwork of time such an issue for business?

Well, for about six months of the year, businesses that are operating nationally across Australia have to now operate on at least four different time zones.

And from, you know, the beginning of daylight savings, it means that, you know, Queensland is an hour behind- Victoria and New South Wales and Tasmania are on the east coast, and it just adds more complications for business.

It impacts productivity.

It means, you know, Queensland misses out.

The east coast of the country, which they sit on, has been up and operating for an hour before, you know, Queensland gets going.

And so they miss out on that front as well.

Is this, as far as the options go, a relatively simple way that we could help boost that productivity here?

Ines, why is this patchwork of time such an issue for business?

Well, for about six months of the year, businesses that are operating nationally across Australia have to now operate on at least four different time zones.

And from the beginning of daylight savings, it means that Queensland is an hour behind Victoria and New South Wales and Tasmania on the east coast.

And it just adds on.

more complications for business.

It impacts productivity.

It means Queensland misses out.

Is this, as far as the options go, a relatively simple way that we could help boost that productivity here?

Ines, why is this patchwork of time such an issue for business?

Well, for about six months of the year, businesses that are operating nationally across Australia have to now operate on at least four different time zones.

And from the beginning of daylight savings, it means that Queensland is an hour behind Victoria and New South Wales and Tasmania on the east coast.

And it just adds on.

more complications for business.

It impacts productivity.

It means Queensland misses out.

Is this, as far as the options go, a relatively simple way that we could help boost that productivity here?

Innes, why is this patchwork of time such an issue for business?

Well, for about six months of the year, businesses that are operating nationally across Australia have to now operate on at least four different time zones.

And from, you know, the beginning of daylight savings, it means that, you know, Queensland is an hour behind- Victoria and New South Wales and Tasmania are on the East Coast, and it just adds more complications for business.

It impacts productivity.

It means, you know, Queensland misses out.

The East Coast of the country, which they sit on, has been up and operating for an hour before, you know, Queensland gets going.

And so they miss out on that front as well.

Is this, as far as the options go, a relatively simple way that we could help boost that productivity here?

Innes, why is this patchwork of time such an issue for business?

Well, for about six months of the year, businesses that are operating nationally across Australia have to now operate on at least four different time zones.

And from, you know, the beginning of daylight savings, it means that, you know, Queensland is an hour behind- Victoria and New South Wales and Tasmania are on the east coast, and it just adds more complications for business.

It impacts productivity.

It means, you know, Queensland misses out.

The east coast of the country, which they sit on, has been up and operating for an hour before, you know, Queensland gets going.

And so they miss out on that front as well.

Is this, as far as the options go, a relatively simple way that we could help boost that productivity here?

Innes, why is this patchwork of time such an issue for business?

Well, for about six months of the year, businesses that are operating nationally across Australia have to now operate on at least four different time zones.

And from, you know, the beginning of daylight savings, it means that, you know, Queensland is an hour behind- Victoria and New South Wales and Tasmania are on the east coast, and it just adds more complications for business.

It impacts productivity.

It means, you know, Queensland misses out.

The east coast of the country, which they sit on, has been up and operating for an hour before, you know, Queensland gets going, and so they miss out on that front as well.

It means businesses have to r- remain open longer if they're just on the east coast just to service Queensland.

Is this, as far as the options go, a relatively simple way that we could help boost that productivity here?

Innes, why is this patchwork of time such an issue for business?

Well, for about six months of the year, businesses that are operating nationally across Australia have to now operate on at least four different time zones.

And from the beginning of daylight savings, it means that Queensland is an hour behind Victoria and New South Wales and Tasmania on the east coast.

And it just adds on.

more complications for business.

It impacts productivity.

It means Queensland misses out.

Is this, as far as the options go, a relatively simple way that we could help boost that productivity here?

How so?

Well, look, it's not the biggest thing of all time, but with everything else going on in the world at the moment, but it is important.

We came out last year as a country out of the economic roundtable back in August last year and made the determination that we wanted to be a single national economy and to operate as one unit.

And when we get into daylight, say, which starts this week, Queensland up north drifts an hour behind the rest of the country on the east coast.

And we then sort of go into four time zones for the country.

What we want to do is to try to make things simpler and easier.

And what happens for Queensland is that they start now an hour behind the rest of the east coast and they remain out of sync forever.

Is there any evidence, though, that Queensland's economy is less productive than the other states because of or as a result of daylight saving? Is there any sort of empirical evidence to suggest that getting up an hour earlier or going to bed an hour later or whatever improves the productivity of those jurisdictions? Absolutely.

What do you think of this plan from One Nation?

Well, firstly, the, the migration program and migration settings aren't set in stone.

They should always be up for review and revision.

But what's been proposed here, particularly around skilled migration, would be particularly devastating for Australian businesses.

We're already seeing, um, s- real shortages when it comes to labor and skills in areas that we, that we want to prosper in, in, uh, construction, in national security, in infrastructure building.

You know, we're, we're short of labor right across the economy.

Everything from engineers through to welders through to abattoir workers through to cybersecurity experts.

Are you worried about the long-term view of Australia's industrial capability?

People feeling hamstrung here?

Well, they sure are, and it works both ways.

It's individual workers, individual employees who have worked and are now sort of getting to an age of retirement.

going on to the pension would like to keep working a bit or a lot depending on their circumstances and you've got employers who are facing into productivity labor and skills issues which are really hamstringing them at the moment so you put the two of them together we've got a system that's not really working because you're seeing you know our demographics and our economics are changing jamie in 1991 16 of the hours worked in our economy were done by workers over 50 in to get to 2026 that's 30 percent of hours worked done by people over 50. so the workforce is aging uh older workers are carrying more of the burden in terms of hours worked and when they get to pension age or approach it there are now very clear disincentives for them to keep working should they want to do so.

They lose out on the pension, have issues around superannuation.

Employers would like people to keep working if they can and want to under different circumstances.

Part-time work, more flexible work, the age that we live in now sort of lends itself to that, but the system is stacked against it.

Is there an element that should be explored in this in terms of how people transition out of work as well and making it a bit more of a softer landing?

Now, could we do something like that here?

Well, we could theoretically.

We do have a habit of really confusing ourselves and making things really complicated.

And, you know, working when you're older is another one of those areas because it has huge implications for your tax, for your superannuation, you know, all sorts of financial implications if you want to keep working.

when you're older.

So yeah, look, we could, you have to look, this is a question around demographics and economics.

So how much would that cost? If everyone got a pension, you know, there'd be hue and cry about it needing to be means tested and all of that.

So is there any appetite in the federal government for reform here, or having had such a bruising time with capital gains tax and negative gearing and fiddling with super, is the era of reform over for the time being?

What is driving this?

Well, the data we pulled together shows that we've had this sort of big climb in insolvency since the pandemic.

So there's a couple of reasons we can point to.

The first is the pandemic where you saw JobKeeper and the like keep a lot of businesses afloat.

So we went through a period after the pandemic where unfortunately, you know, a large number of businesses closed.

weren't able to keep themselves going and went under.

And then you've seen a whole range of other businesses struggle along and try to make it work and not be able to make it work.

That does say a lot in my book, does it to you?

What is driving this?

Well, the data we pulled together shows that we've had this sort of big climb in insolvency since the pandemic.

So there's a couple of reasons we can point to.

The first is the pandemic where you saw JobKeeper and the like keep a lot of businesses afloat.

So we went through a period after the pandemic where unfortunately, you know, a large number of businesses closed.

weren't able to sort of keep themselves going and went under.

And then you've seen a whole range of other businesses sort of struggle along and try to make it work and not be able to make it work.

That does say a lot in my book, does it to you?

In simple terms, Innes, what is the federal government changing when it comes to discretionary trusts, and why will so many small businesses need to restructure?

So Scott, going back to the budget of May the twelfth, the federal government made a surprise announcement that it was gonna impose a thirty percent tax on discretionary trusts.

And, uh, this announcement was made really without any consultation at all and as has become apparent as time has gone on since the budget, really without too much thought around the co-- implications and consequences of that decision, not just economically overall and the impact that it will have on people wanting to start up or run a business in Australia, but in the impact on what it will do to businesses currently operating who o-- who would be hit by that thirty percent tax on those discretionary or family trusts.

And look, the data tells us that just under half a million, four hundred and ninety-four thousand business in-- businesses across Australia, that's just under twenty percent of the total number of registered businesses in Australia, they operate through a trust structure.

Now, the federal government has sort of come to realize that, well, they just can't do this overnight, and they have to give businesses time to adjust.

And as part of that, they've given businesses three years to, to roll over their arrangement, uh, either into a company or into a permanent trust or some other arrangement.

But the issue here that doesn't seem to have been thought through is that registration of trusts and, and rollover of, of these sort of arrangements are actually administered not at the federal level but at the state level.

So what are you hearing from small business owners about the cost and the complexity of having to change their structure?

Mate, I just made a comment earlier that it feels like, you know, it's all about workers, workers, workers, and it's time the government had a look at these insolvency rates, mate, because they clearly indicate that it's business that's really struggling at the moment and those businesses are the ones that are providing the jobs.

Well, Mark, what we're seeing is a slowing economy nationally.

You can see that every day.

Business closures is a good indication.

Business start-ups is another to look at, and they've been down now for some time.

There's a bit of movement around that at the moment.

So, look, I think the economy is going through a very tough patch at the moment, and what we don't need is more regulation now.

What are business owners telling you?

But I guess the key question is, how much electricity are they gonna be drawing from the grid, and is it actually gonna be sustainable?

Well, this is the big question, Edward.

So it's, this is where electricity is sort of a national market.

Water is much more local.

You know, if you've had anything to do with water politics in Australia, you'll notice that it's all very local, think of the Murray-Darling Basin.

But electricity is a national issue, uh, that we have to deal with.

And what we've, we've sought, and energy ministers have come along with this, is, is a couple of very important things.

I mean, was that a success, and do you reckon that could work here as well?

What's your reaction to Jim Chalmers' fifth federal budget?

Look, Sam, three months ago, this might have cut the mustard as a budget.

Not perfect, but there were, there's a lot of measures in here that we pushed for at the roundtable back in August, particularly around regulatory reform, which the government, to their credit, have picked up and run with to make it easier to do business with government, uh, and easier to operate across the states.

So that's the beginning of some very positive work.

Um, so plaudits there.

The problem is the world has moved on enormously in the past, um, three months.

So we now have, uh, changes to capital gains tax, which make us the number one country in the world for raising capital gains tax.

Innes Willox, just remind listeners what productivity is, and are there any measures in today's budget that you think are going to boost Australia's productivity?

Yeah

... chemicals, solvents, all of those sort of things have a fuel base.

Yeah, even the contact lenses in, in, in some people's eyes have got, you know, film on them, which has got a fuel base in it.

And what, what we're staring into is a couple of things.

One is shortage, shortage of products that are made from, from, um, you know, fuel-based, that are fuel based.

Two is a, a massive increase in cost around those.

So think of polyurethane, polyurethane products, fuel based.

Innes, given that's the case, given that we're very much dictated to by what's happening overseas, i- is there any local solution to this, or are we just gonna have to accept these higher costs?