Productivity must be at the heart of Australia’s economic response: AFGC

3 November 2026

Lifting Australia’s productivity is critical to easing inflationary pressures and creating the conditions for businesses to invest and grow, the Australian Food and Grocery Council said on Tuesday, as higher interest rates add further pressure for businesses and households. 

For manufacturers, that means removing barriers to investment in equipment, technology, skills and production capacity. 

AFGC CEO Colm Maguire said governments can support that investment by reducing unnecessary duplication in non-financial reporting requirements. 

“The productivity challenge is not abstract. Businesses make decisions every day about where they put their people, capital and time. 

“Reporting has an important role, but requiring businesses to collect and provide the same or similar information multiple times adds cost without making them more productive.  

Cutting that duplication is a practical reform. It gives businesses more scope to focus resources on new machinery, technology and expanding manufacturing capacity.” 

The stakes are particularly high for food and grocery manufacturing, Australia’s largest manufacturing sector, with $182.6 billion in turnover and 301,000 employees. 

“We need policy settings that make Australia a better place to invest. That means lifting productivity, cutting unnecessary regulatory duplication and supporting businesses to put capital into productive assets,” Mr Maguire said. 

In a submission to the Productivity Commission, AFGC proposed three changes to non-financial reporting: 

• Cut duplication by removing requirements for information businesses already provide. 

• Collect once, use many times by allowing equivalent information to be reused across government. 

• Coordinate regulation through a government-wide roadmap covering reporting requirements and timing. 

Read the submission on our website. 

Contact 

Zandi Shabalala media@afgc.org.au 0430 051 575