We've just had the Economic Reform Roundtable, which begged comparisons with the summits of Hawke, and even the Australia 2020 summit of Kevin Rudd. My first take out from it is that we live in an age of pygmies. This roundtable, compared to the others, lacked ambition. No one came to it with any grand ideas. Rather there were a few twee tweaks, the most bizarre of which came from the Productivity Commission which proposed to cut company tax by inventing a new type of tax and increasing the tax burden on larger, more productive, companies.

This is probably a result of the Lotus Land, she'll be right mate, approach of the government. We live in a world where our biggest trade partner is our biggest security risk, and is threatening to start an Indo-Pacific War over an independent nation - Taiwan. At the same time our way of life would be unaffordable without the royalties we make from selling iron ore and coal to them. Yet that would stop immediately.

Then there is immigration which has pushed home ownership out of the reach of a whole generation and will be difficult and painful to reverse.

And the energy transition, which has accelerated the decline in our manufacturing sector.

None of these threats were even mentioned in the framing of the conference, let alone tackled. Instead the lack of outcome or progress was obscured by word salads seeking to reinvent the word productivity so it means something else.

At least they did decide to tax EVs for their road usage - one minor and completely insufficient policy, but a good one.

I suggest that posters take a look at last Friday's ‘TheOtherSide’, with Graham participating, for an excellent summary of a ‘summit’ in which the two main problems - government overspending, and mass immigration of the Third World - were not mentioned.

“Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidise it”. (Ronald Reagan)

WTF?

There was more in it then taxing EVs.

“It’s been a very productive three days,” Bran Black, the chief executive of the Business Council of Australia, said".

"Business groups praised the “constructive” roundtable process, and said they were ready to continue to work with the government to progress the priorities identified by the treasurer".

"Andrew McKellar, the chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said, “we want to see the government developing an ambitious agenda for reform that will drive productivity and economic growth in the years ahead.

They’ve taken a very consultative approach to this. We appreciate that, and we want to continue forward in the spirit that we’ve had in the past three days".

One thing that resonated with me was "Change could focus on intergenerational fairness in the system, incentivising business investment rules to promote growth and making the system simpler".

The concept of "intergenerational fairness" carries a lot more weight than the "who'll think of the children?" meaningless trope pushed by right-wing virtual signallers.

I don't hear much talk about intergenerational fairness from the "I've got mine" mob suckling on the public teat.

That should have read "right wing virtue signallers".

WTF is right to point out there was more substance than Graham suggested.

"Intergenerational fairness," simplification, and investment incentives aren’t just froth, and the fact that the BCA and ACCI are still leaning in suggests they saw something worth pursuing.

But the lack of boldness remains.

Intergenerational fairness sounds promising, yet unless the hard levers - negative gearing, CGT discounts, planning bottlenecks, even immigration settings - are touched, it risks staying a slogan rather than becoming policy.

And this is where the age of misinformation bites. The moment a government proposes trimming investor tax breaks or recalibrating migration, you can almost script the headlines:

"Labor declares war on mums and dads" - Sky News
"Housing Tax Grab: Treasurer eyes family homes" - The Australian
"Migration freeze to wreck economy, experts warn" - AFR op-ed, sponsored by the Property Council

Faced with that kind of outrage cycle, it’s safer to redefine productivity in word salads than to actually move the dial.

So yes, there was some substance, but bold reform is rationed now that every proposal is instantly weaponised, then further distorted in right-wing echo chambers.