Productivity growth is about harnessing our ingenuity to do more with the resources Australia already has — working smarter, not harder — and investing in the latest technology and the best ideas.

The Productivity Inquiry focuses on the enablers of productivity growth in a modern, market-based, service-oriented world. This first report provides the broad productivity context for the exploration of productivity-enhancing reforms detailed in a series of forthcoming interim reports.

Priority areas are identified in this document and will be followed up with interim papers to further discuss the issues, set out the Commission’s early thinking and elicit feedback from the community.

These areas of policy focus are:

• Innovation policy and diffusion of new processes and ideas: Policies that foster a business environment that encourages efficiency, innovation and diffusion.
• Data policy, digital technology and cyber security: The economy-wide importance of data and the digital technologies that generate and use data, as general purpose technologies that could boost productivity in many areas of the economy, including services.
• A productivity-friendly business environment: Limiting impediments to business investment, a flexible workforce, sound regulation and an efficient approach to decarbonising the economy.
• A skilled and educated workforce: The importance of education in driving productivity growth through increasing human capital and creating settings conducive to technological breakthroughs and adoption.