The Hilmer Report established the importance of deregulation to interstate trade more than 30 years ago. The implementation of a suite of productivity focussed policy reforms was critical to the productivity growth enjoyed across Australia in the mid to late 1990s.
These productivity and deregulatory reforms were backed by strong financial incentives for the states and the performance of implementation was closely reviewed.
Since the mid-2000s, the focus on productivity has fallen away and productivity growth has also waned. We now find ourselves in a position where productivity is actually going backwards and economic growth is promoted almost entirely by population growth (immigration).
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