on September 1 and 2 provides business participants with a historic opportunity to influence economic policy decisions by the Albanese Labor government. There are important lessons to learn from the National Economic Summit nearly 40 years ago to avoid previous mistakes.
The first lesson from the National Economic Summit is that such events will always be a political platform for the government of the day, and the prime minister and treasurer will leverage the decisions for political purposes no matter how important the economic outcomes.The 1983 summit was held at Old Parliament House between April 11 and 14, only five weeks after the election of the Hawke government and before its first parliamentary session.
A group photograph of all participants, including business leaders on the steps of old Parliament House on the last day of the summit, presented tangible evidence of success for the government. The then-Queensland premier, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, was the only participant to reserve his position on the communiqué.
The fourth lesson from 1983 is that politicians respond better to solutions than dogma. During the summit, Sir Roderick Carnegie was a prominent critic of the “one-sided” approach by the government and unions to the Accord.