A refreshed Morrison government is going to examine the nation's industrial relations system and red tape as part of a push to rev up Australia's economy.
But the prime minister has put the hard word on business to play its part in convincing Australians that change is needed.
The business community is elated at the prospect of a workplace relations makeover, while unions argue it's an attack on workers' rights.
In a speech to business leaders in Perth on Monday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced he had tasked Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter with examining the system and the role of unions in workplaces.
The leader's own assistant minister Ben Morton has been asked to assess the level of red tape businesses are facing.
"Our job post-election is now very clear - to get Australians off the economic sidelines and on the field again," Mr Morrison said at the WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry event.
The government will prioritise tax cuts and its proposed Ensuring Integrity Bill - which will make it easier to deregister unions and ban officials over misconduct - when parliament resumes next week.
But tax relief is just one plank of his economic plan, Mr Morrison said. Just as important are infrastructure building, a revamp of skills training and industrial relations, and Trump-inspired busting of red tape.
"To provoke the much needed 'animal spirits' in our economy we must also remove regulatory and bureaucratic barriers to businesses investing and creating more jobs," he said.
But the prime minister has warned the business community if it wanted changes on the industrial front, it had to pitch in.
"We have to constantly reassure Australians that the changes we're seeking to make are about boosting their incomes by making our economy even more competitive, even more open," he said.
Many Australians are worried "productivity" would lead to them doing more work for less pay, he said.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry says businesses have been crying out for an industrial relations system that isn't weighed down by unnecessary processes and frustrating legalities.
"We cannot afford for Australia's workplace relations framework to remain a barrier to improved competitiveness and productivity," chief executive James Pearson said.
But the Australian Council of Trade Unions says the Ensuring Integrity Bill will be a burden on the already highly-regulated union movement.
"Every single worker benefits from the work of unions, attacking unions is another way of attacking every worker's rights," ACTU president Michele O'Neil said.
The bill was introduced to parliament in 2017 but suffered a blow last year when the coalition couldn't rally enough support for it among the Senate crossbench.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said the best way to boost productivity would be to build some of the government's own planned infrastructure projects earlier.
Labor also wants the government to bring forward the second stage of its tax cut plan, saying it will get money into the hands of workers when the economy needs it, but still opposes the third stage of the plan.
Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe, meanwhile, told an event at Canberra's Australian National University that the effectiveness of monetary policy is weakening around the world.
That means governments need to pull their weight in keeping the economy humming, he suggested.
"Governments here and around the world should have their top drawers full with ideas," Dr Lowe said.
Australian Associated Press
