Career politicians lack business savvy
A “VACUUM” of business knowledge and the rise of the career politician is hurting the corporate sector and damaging economic growth, a major business conference has heard.
Speaking in Melbourne yesterday, Australian Institute of Company Directors chair Elizabeth Proust said career politicians with little business experience were risking Australia’s future.
“One of the problems in the business-government discourse in Australia is that we’ve got a different group of politicians, picked from different backgrounds, than we’ve had in the past,” Ms Proust said.
“Previously the paradigm was people had had a career before they went into politics.
“Now we’ve got people from the Young Libs or from the trade union movement starting out as minsters’ staff or back benchers’ staff, then aspiring to be a back bencher, then a minister.”
Ms Proust said that in both major parties there was “not a great deal of understanding about the role of business”.
“And what we have in this country is a very simplistic debate where if an Alan Joyce [Qantas Airways chief] talks about marriage equality, he tends to be kicked down and told ‘stick to flying your airline’,” Ms Proust told several hundred company directors.
“I’m not sure that governments of all persuasions appreciate that the role of business has changed and that the community is expecting something more from business.”
She was speaking during a forum with Coca-Cola Amatil chief Alison Watkins at the Australian Governance Summit.
Ms Watkins said businesses had to force politicians to listen and change or risk economic downturn. “We absolutely should be putting forward views to both sides and really making sure we are showing good leadership — in some ways the vacuum we see from Canberra makes it an absolute imperative.”