Treasurer Jim Chalmers brought together the Economic Reform Roundtable in Canberra from 19 to 21 August 2025 to build consensus on tackling Australia’s productivity challenges. In July 2025, Australians logged around two billion hours of work, showing a year-on-year increase of 2.1%, but productivity levels stayed stagnant. The Productivity Commission estimates that restoring growth to historic averages could make full-time workers about A$14,000 better off by 2035.
Leaders from government, business, and academia gathered to explore the reasons for stagnant productivity and to discuss potential reforms in key areas such as regulation, taxation, artificial intelligence, and economic resilience. Executives around the world embrace artificial intelligence to bridge the productivity divide. A recent study by Microsoft shows that 81 percent of leaders expect to integrate agents into their AI strategy to a moderate or extensive degree within the next 12 to 18 months. 82% of executives believe that 2025 will be a crucial year for them to reevaluate their strategy and operations.
The Australian Government introduces a dual approach to AI, establishing technical standards for prompt implementation in the public sector and reviewing regulations concerning copyright and workplace rights. Both agencies and enterprises achieve success by creating an optimal ecosystem. Enhance data infrastructure, implement uniform data governance, and ensure the security of cloud storage. Comprehensive data collection, efficient collaboration, organised sharing, and strict privacy and cybersecurity protections are essentials.
Agencies must eliminate data silos to foster insights. To lead the way forward, major Australian organisations must take charge. In 2024, Commonwealth Bank will launch a special engineering team powered by AI that integrates agents throughout the software development process. This initiative includes planning, coding, testing, and maintenance, enabling engineers to focus on more valuable tasks.
Business commentary
“Solving Australia’s productivity puzzle is a complex task and, if nothing else, the recent Economic Reform Roundtable should be applauded for simply trying to build consensus on what is causing the stagnation. Australians worked roughly 2 billion hours in July 2025 (up 2.1% year-on-year) while productivity has flat-lined. The Productivity Commission estimates that fixing this could leave the average worker $14,000 better off by 2035.
“Building consensus on how to solve this is a challenging task. What is clear though is that we won’t get there by working longer and longer hours.
“Conspicuously absent from the concluding remarks from the Roundtable was the role of AI, even though every business in Australia is exploring it, with many already embedding AI to boost productivity. While there are still fundamental questions that need to be answered regarding AI’s role in our society, the Australian government’s current two speed approach is a sensible start: a fast lane of SME support and public-service standards, and a slow lane tackling copyright and workplace rights.
“At this stage, businesses need to be the ones to drive innovation and implement AI into their own workflows. Software development offers the blueprint for how businesses should implement AI. Australian and global leaders like Commonwealth Bank and EY are already demonstrating how AI coding agents take repetitive work off the table so people can focus on higher-value, system-level problems. The lesson for every sector is clear: when AI agents handle repetitive, time-consuming tasks, teams deliver more ambitious outcomes with less friction. Embracing AI agents will realign Australia’s productivity, compounding into stronger economic growth and greater competitiveness, with AI at the heart of the uplift.
“The task now is for government to connect the ‘slow’ and ‘fast’ lanes to shape regulation and skills policy. According to Microsoft’s Work Trend Index 2025, 81% of business leaders globally expect AI agents to be part of their strategy in the next 12–18 months. Australian industry and government must recognise agentic AI as a critical asset for both correcting our productivity and driving economic advancement. If Australia hesitates, we risk falling further behind the global status quo.”
— Sharryn Napier, Vice President, APAC, GitHub
Public sector lessons
This commentary supports the idea that agentic AI can boost productivity. Organisations can harness value by assigning repetitive, time-consuming tasks to AI agents, which allows human talent to focus on more complex and higher-order challenges. The statement highlights that while the government sets the policy framework, businesses must take charge of practical implementation.
Public sector leaders must acknowledge that AI pilots act as the main tool for driving initiatives forward. Each pilot must establish precise metrics, operate within a defined timeframe, and incorporate enforceable protections for workers. The current public-service AI standards and the government’s analysis of regulatory gaps create a solid framework for evaluating, measuring, and expanding effective solutions.
As technology rapidly advances, leaders must connect artificial intelligence with enhanced data infrastructure and updated cloud storage solutions. To enhance productivity, we must dismantle data silos, facilitate secure collaboration and sharing of data among agencies, and reinforce privacy and cybersecurity measures. Strong data governance and consistent data collection practices will ensure that pilots succeed individually and have the opportunity to grow on a national scale. A distinct opportunity lies ahead: harmonising policy, skills, and procurement with a focus on measured adoption can significantly address Australia’s productivity challenges through AI.
Sharryn Napier
Sharryn Napier serves as the Vice President of Sales for GitHub in Asia Pacific, India, Japan, and China, leveraging over 22 years of experience in the IT sector. Sharryn held senior leadership roles at global software companies, including serving as Regional Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand at New Relic and as Vice President for the region at Qlik, where she drove regional growth and go-to-market strategies. Sharryn demonstrates her expertise in sales leadership and channel strategy. She serves on the National Board of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), showcasing her commitment to advancing the technology sector.
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