Productivity with Purpose: Clear pathways to a more equitable future is a report that brings together CPD’s contributions to the Productivity Commission’s five productivity inquiries, as well as submissions to Treasury ahead of the government’s Economic Reform Roundtable.
The report reframes the national productivity debate – arguing that rather than pursuing productivity growth for its own sake, we must clarify its purpose: to lift living standards, improve wellbeing, and accelerate the transition to net zero.
It lays out practical, achievable reforms that not only boost productivity but also deliver long-lasting benefits for people, communities, and the environment. Recommendations are grouped into three key themes: expanding the path to a dynamic and more resilient economy, improving measurement, funding and prevention in the care economy, and a cost-effective, efficient and community-centred net zero transformation.
Productivity with Purpose is a report from the Centre for Policy Development that lays out practical reforms for tying productivity to outcomes that Australians value: time with our families and friends, better health, stronger connections with our communities, and more leisure time.
Like many measures of economic growth, productivity is often treated as a means to improve living standards. But unless we deliberately make that the goal, those benefits don’t automatically follow.
For example, productivity improvements in mining may make new coal projects viable – but at the cost of worsening climate change. It’s also possible, in sectors with weak worker protections, that productivity gains will flow almost solely into profit growth instead of increased wages for workers or reduced work hours.
If we do not connect productivity to purpose, we risk pursuing productivity in a way that worsens the overlapping crises we face as a society: climate breakdown, inequality and housing shortages. But if done right, we can channel productivity into the things people truly value, such as time with our families and friends, better health, stronger connections with our communities, and more leisure time.
This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape how productivity is defined, measured, and pursued.
If we get it right, Australia can unlock economic growth that delivers more than higher output – it can deliver better jobs, more affordable care, stronger communities and real momentum toward net zero.
Reforms like these can make life measurably better: giving people more time, less stress, greater opportunity, and a sense of security about the future. That’s what productivity with purpose is all about.
