Anthony Albanese has pushed back against accusations his government is strangling Australian businesses with red tape, telling a dinner with executives from some of the countrys biggest firms that Labor is proudly pro-business and pro-worker.
The Prime Minister was welcomed like a fish in a sea of sharks at the Business Council of Australias (BCA) annual dinner in Sydney on Tuesday night, with both BCAs chief executive and president saying the federal government was regulating businesses into the ground.
Pockets of lackluster clapping broke out across the dimly lit ballroom as Mr Albanese entered the ornate hall.
Despite the tense atmosphere, Mr Albanese struck a cordial tone in his address to the collective of C-suite suits, telling them he was optimistic that government and business could address economic challenges together.
By recognising each others strengths, respecting each others views and valuing each others contribution, he said.
We have different responsibilities that demand different approaches, so it is inevitable we will have occasional differences of opinion.
Anthony Albanese sat through a scathing speech from the Business Council of Australia chief Geoff Culbert
The Prime Minister said that points of disagreement have never defined or diminished engagement between his government and the business community because Labor serves all Australians.
We are proudly pro-business and pro-worker, he said.
And we dont see this as a point of tension, we see it as a matter of logic.
Among the executives seated at the Prime Ministers centre-set table were Atlassians Mike Cannon-Brookes, Commonwealth Banks Matt Comyn and Shell Australias Cecile Wake.
Seated right next to Mr Albanese was BCA president Geoff Culbert, who made scathing remarks about the government in an address shortly before the Prime Ministers speech.
Mr Culbert pointed to the governments move to cap international students as part of a plan to tighten rules in the international education sector, one of Australias largest biggest export markets.
Business Council of Australia president Geoff Culbert lasted the Albanese governments move to cap international students
The proposal is broadly seen by universities as an immigration policy dressed up as an education policy.
Invoking late US president Ronald Reagan, Mr Culbert said it was emblematic of the direction business in Australia is going.
Over the past two decades our university sector has built a product that is truly world-class and is now our second biggest export market behind mining and resources, he told dinner attendees.
But rather than celebrate that success and support our most globally competitive industries we seek to slow them down.
To paraphrase Ronald Reagan the narrative for doing business in Australia cannot be, If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidise it.
But that is the direction were heading.
Mr Culberts remarks echoed comments by BCA chief executive Bran Black, who too said many CEOs feel we are losing our way and taking incremental, but noticeable, steps backwards.
He said chief executives around the country had told him they are far, far more cautious about hiring after the governments raft of recent workplace changes.
And this underlines the point that for a good job to be well-paid, it has to exist first, Mr Black said.
Instead, were steadily increasing, not removing, regulation, making it harder to run a business.
The Coalition has vowed to repeal some of the Albanese governments workplace changes if they win next years election, including the recently enforced right to disconnect.
But Mr Albanese said his government understood job security and decent wages depended on businesses performing well, just as it understood productivity gains were dependent on skilled workers and safe workplaces.
He said his government had stood against some pretty extreme anti-business policies emanating from the crossbench, in a thinly veiled shot at the Greens, as well as the opposition.
Weve stood up for some of Australias biggest employers, when others have attacked you for holding a view different to their own, Mr Albanese said.
He went on to say there was room for everyones views in democracy, as well as an onus on those views to stand on their merits and withstand public scrutiny.
You have to be prepared to make the case, answer for your priorities and demonstrate how the propositions you are advancing will benefit the lives of people whose support you are seeking, Mr Albanese said.
Atlassian chief Mike Cannon-Brookes was on Mr Albaneses table
Because economic and social change is not delivered via ultimatum, its built by consensus and strengthened by the mandate of the people.
The Prime Minister said he was not at the dinner to demand the BCA advocate for his agenda like many of his predecessors.
Tonight, I encourage you: keep advancing yours, he said.
Mr Albaneses remarks on democracy appeared to target the BCA president, who earlier warned of a growing danger of populism.
Mr Culbert said populism was undermining trust and respect for the institutions that lead our country, a problem facing countries across the Western world.
I dont think I would be alone in saying Im concerned about the state of democracy in Western countries, he said.
You only have to look around the world to understand what Im talking about.
Mr Culbert said he wished he could share in the popular thinking that troubles seen in other parts of the world would never reach Australian shores, but that what were seeing around the world provides an important lesson in how quickly unity can fragment when self-interest trumps national interest, and populism takes hold.
Robust and respectful debate is essential, he said.
Its the cornerstone of functional democracies. No one would disagree with that.
But the purpose of that debate must be to come up with solutions that are in the long-term interests of the country.
We cannot let ourselves get trapped in an endless cycle of short-term thinking and blame-shifting.