Senator GHOSH (Western Australia) (15:17): I rise to take note of the answers to the questions asked by Senator Canavan and Senator Dean Smith in relation to productivity and inflation. By way of context on productivity, I think it's fair to accept that we haven't had significant productivity reform in the two decades to this government. That's a conclusion that's reaffirmed by the comments of the Productivity Commission. The Productivity Commission also told the Senate Select Committee on the Cost of Living in June 2023 that improving productivity growth in Australia requires applying a productivity lens across the entire policy landscape. Boosting productivity is difficult and takes time. It takes consistent investment. It requires us to improve skills in our economy. It requires us to provide incentives for capital deepening across the economy and it requires competition reform in Australia. To that first point on education and skills, we need to increase the size of the skilled workforce in Australia. That's both in terms of productivity gains that come from that and also in terms of some of the capacity constraints that are driving some of these inflationary numbers. One of the things the Reserve Bank have told Senate committees and House committees in the last six months is that while demand remains higher than they expected, it's slightly higher, and public demand's not the main game in that. They've also said that there are significant capacity restraints in the Australian economy, it's that mismatch between supply and demand that drives up inflation. There are a number of measures that the government's implementing in order to improve productivity through upskilling the Australian workforce, but the best example and the most recent one is the fee-free TAFE program which has been in place since January 2023 and had 508,000 enrolments to 30 June 2024. That's 508,000 new skills put into the Australian economy. To break that down a little more specifically, 131,000 of those placements were in care. 48,900 were in the digital and technological part of the economy, 35,000 were construction related and 35,500 were in early childhood education and care. Six out of 10 of those enrolments went to women and one-third went to regional and remote Australians. That's a policy that improves skills in our economy and that's a policy that the coalition opposes. They oppose it even though they see it's working. They call it wasteful spending and then they have the temerity to come in here and complain about productivity when they oppose one of the main measures that would improve productivity in a fair way in our society. The second thing I want to talk about is competition reform. This government's approach to a revitalised national competition framework and policy has the potential, according again to the Productivity Commission, to return an additional $45 billion to our GDP and reduce prices across the economy by 1.5 per cent. That's a potential and it's an estimate; I accept that. But there are two things I want to tell you about today. One is merger reform. That is making mergers in our commercial sector quicker, simpler and easier. That's by first removing unnecessary barriers to low-risk mergers—mergers that don't have a significant impact on competition in the market—and second— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Scarr, do you have a point of order? Senator Scarr: I do. I'm struggling to find out how merger reform is relevant to the answers to questions without notice asked by coalition senators. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Competition reform is a testing to productivity, and I think the questions were of an economic nature, as were the answers. Senator Birmingham: You're being very generous, Deputy President. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Merry Christmas. Please go on, Senator Ghosh. I'm interested. Senator GHOSH: I appreciate the ruling, Deputy President, but could I refer to Senator Canavan's question, which said: Minister, how many more businesses have to fail before this inept government will put forward a credible plan to bring down inflation and boost productivity? I'm talking about productivity and the plan to do it. Senator O'Sullivan: We're taking note of answers, though. Senator GHOSH: It was part of the answers too, Senator O'Sullivan. Can we also talk about non-compete clauses. They're a cost in the economy, and a proper review of how non-compete clauses operate in employment contracts would significantly add to the Australian economy. It has done so in the United States in the implementation of those policies. Can I briefly talk about technology investment in that capacity as well. The Tech Council of Australia last week released a report that suggested there's significant opportunity to improve productivity and economic growth in our economy by investing in technology. We accept that much of that investment must come from a private-sector perspective but public sector has a role to play here too. That's where the government's National Reconstruction Fund, a $15 billion fund to help businesses improve their technological capacity, comes into it. That will give us the ability to continue to invest in technologies that improve productivity, drive economic growth and bring down inflation. This is the broader point. Those opposite oppose these policies and they oppose investment in the economy, and then they come in here and talk about how productivity is languishing. These investments take time. The government's got its priorities right and it's got a plan that's good for our economy.