Australia's top business, union and social services leaders have decided to meet next month for a national reform summit that will try to end the political paralysis that had seized up policy, demoralised the business community and hit consumer confidence.

About 80 leaders from major groups, including The Australian Council of Trade Unions, the Business Council of Australia, Australian Industry Group, the Australian Council of Social Service, National Seniors Australia and COTA Australia, will meet in Sydney. 

The groups will discuss fiscal sustainability, tax reform, productivity and workplace participation and retirement incomes. The summit is designed to create political pressure on the major political parties to pass measures that will spur the economy, cut unemployment and help balance the budget.

Jointly sponsored

The summit, which will be held on August 26 in Sydney, is being jointly sponsored by The Australian Financial Review and The Australian and may be one of the most high-powered policy summits not organised by government in modern Australian history. The rival papers have agreed to co-operate on a non-profit basis because of the importance of the issues and the failure of Parliament to pass significant national reform, Financial Review editor-in-chief Michael Stutchbury said.

"Australia's enviable modern prosperity is now at risk from the end of the resources boom, falling export prices, entrenched budget deficits, a high-cost structure and sluggish productivity growth," Mr Stutchbury said.

"The political system is failing to recognise this risk, let alone build a consensus around the policy responses required to deal with it. Leadership now needs to come from the national media, business, union and community groups."

In an attempt to avoid the bitter partisan debates that have almost paralysed policy agreement in Canberra, no politicians will be delegates to the summit, although Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will be invited to give opening speeches. The summit has, however, been inspired in part by Bob Hawke's National Economic Summit in 1983, which was held as a resources boom collapse, a wages blowout and a global downturn drove unemployment above 10 per cent. 

Planning has been going since the start of the year. Several leading researchers have been commissioned to prepare discussion papers to establish agreed facts before negotiations begin. Former federal Labor trade minister Craig Emerson and Nick Cater, the director of the Liberal Party's think tank, the Menzies Research Centre, are co-ordinating the event. Professional services firm KPMG is providing secretarial assistance and will host the summit at its offices.

The Productivity Commission, the federal Treasury and the Reserve Bank of Australia will be asked to provide factual information about the economy to the summit. A senior official from each state and territory government will also be invited.

Union movement

The union movement has already been involved in negotiations with the business and social services groups about the summit's agenda, which will concentrate on the central economic challenges facing the federal government. Some specialised policy areas, including health, education and national security, won't be on the agenda given the limited time available.

ACTU secretary Dave Oliver said he wanted a return to the "constructive" relations between unions, business and government that existed under under previous Labor governments.

"It is essential that we work together to prioritise investment in infrastructure, plan for and grow the industries and skills of the future, and tackle the changing nature of work as a result of global digital disruption," he said. "This is the high road unions want to walk with business and government."

Jennifer Westacott, the chief executive of the big-business lobby group the BCA, said the summit would allow organisations with often divergent views to identify areas they agree on.

"Anybody looking at the news from around the world and then looking at the figures on Australia's competitiveness, on productivity, on unemployment and on wages who denies the existence of a burning platform for reform is living in fantasy land," she said.

"Future generations will not thank them for that delusion.

"For too long, our politicians have been engaged in bitter personal conflicts, across different parties and within them. They have been forgetting that what the people of Australia want and expect is to see that our country being well run."

COTA Australia, a peak group for organisations representing older Australians, will be represented by its chief executive, Ian Yates, who wants adequate money for retirees without busting the budget and a fair and effective tax system.

"This is not being delivered by our current politicians as good policy is too often sacrificed to short-term political positioning," he said.

Good opportunity for policy changes

The groups involved say they summit is a good opportunity to develop political and community support for policy changes, although reaching agreement between unions and employers on workplace changes to make the economy more efficient may be hard.

"We see it as a chance to highlight how important it is to remove unnecessary barriers to workplace flexibilities," said Innes Willox, the chief executive of the Australian Industry Group, which represents many manufacturing companies. "This would be a key part of the broader agenda to lift productivity."

The Australian's editor-in-chief, Chris Mitchell, said Australia's 24 years of recession-free growth had created "a community expectation that growth will continue and prosperity will go on rising".

"Yet our future is not assured," he said. "If we fail to respond to Australia's economic challenges, we risk rising unemployment, falling productivity and reduced business profitability. Australians deserve more from their leaders."