The government’s job summit could achieve something meaningful, such as a consensus on industrial relations - or it could become a celebration of windbaggery. Jim Chalmers has to tread carefully.
It could produce something meaningful, in the spirit of the Hawke government’s 1983 economic summit, which cemented the Prices and Incomes Accord, paved the way for landmark economic reforms, and facilitated the exit from the recession.
Business leaders are already saying privately that the summit cannot afford to drift into a battle of competing wishlists. He was also smart enough to declare in advance that a “general consensus” about “the directions we need to take” will be endorsement enough. That’s because unanimous support for anything will be impossible given the range of views held by the 100 invitees representing unions, business, the states, community groups and so forth.
Not everyone would get what they wanted, the government said, but it was prepared to be flexible in negotiations to ensure as much of the bill as possible passed.