Remarkable Journeys with Jess Fox: Conversations with our clients, people and community. Listen now.
By: Ben Matthews
30 Oct 2020 2 min read
When you’re an intermediary you are far more likely to be subject to regulation rather than to benefit from direct funding. The Government really hasn’t invested much to support the sector in the last decade. However, professional services are indirect beneficiaries of funding to other parts of the economy, which would account for the strong contribution to GDP. Professional services has represented 10% or more of Australia’s GDP since 2017.
We know that integrity and compliance is just as, if not more, important when times are tough. Meeting employer obligations, as well as addressing more recent legislation around modern slavery will need to be balanced with incoming changes to Australian insolvency laws, tightening of the Foreign Investment Review Board and, of course, the new and significant investment in infrastructure, modern manufacturing, energy and digital. The opportunity now is to ensure the professional services sector is geared up with the right experts and connections to support clients, both existing and new, with the shift. The shift isn’t just in where Australia will focus their investments, it’s also closer to home in how we work. Now is the time to start positioning for that future.
In our report we cover:
We were initially writing the ‘Federal Budget: A 10 year retrospective’ report before COVID-19 as an advocacy piece for more industry investment and support. Of course, the way the year started is not the way the year is ending. Many sectors that had been left to their own devices are now key for our recovery. Sovereign capability. Jobs. Digital economy. Modern manufacturing. Renewable future. Deregulation. Innovation. These are the terms we will use as we settle into COVID-normal.
Our report looks retrospectively at 13 different industries, the investment made into them by Government and their contribution to GDP. This is then overlaid with the opportunity we see for industry in this new normal based on recent Government announcements.
With the Australian economy the weakest it has been in 23 years, Labor has handed down its third Federal Budget delivering its second consecutive surplus, and setting the Government’s agenda as we head into an election cycle.
The professional services landscape has changed with COVID-19. The more agile the firm, the better placed they were to ride out the storm.
There is an overlooked economic opportunity in Australia’s mid-sized businesses – with the right incentives and tax policies in place, they can grow in size, scale and reach. They can employ more people, collaborate with other Australian businesses, and better contribute to Australia’s bottom line.