NEW REPORT OUT NOW
According to CEDA trustees, the top six big issues of concern for the growth of our nation are Water, Energy, Education and training, Labour skills, Environment and Governance.
CEDA's Big Issue project identifies the major challenges that Australia faces over the next five to 10 years.
The project has been developed by CEDA board member and IBISWorld Chairman Phil Ruthven who has provided the resources of IBISWorld's Business Environment Database.
The project has several stages:
According to CEDA trustees, the top six big issues of concern for the growth of our nation are:
Significant changes emerged since last year's survey, with education and training moving to third.
This year has also seen more of an emphasis on domestic subjects, with transport, productivity, emerging industries, health and governance rounding out the Top 10 issues.
Water is crucial to Australia's economic prosperity. In the Big Issues survey it ranked first for the second year running. Drought conditions remain despite improved rainfall in the Queensland coastal regions and in NSW. All States have now signed up to the Commonwealth proposals relating to the Murray Darling Basin - but little action has taken place.
Energy was the second most important business issue in the 2008 Big Issues survey (and number 7 in 2007). Determining which energy sources and what mix of these sources, the Australian government and business should concentrate investment on is vital. Key current sources include: coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear power, wind, solar, thermal and tidal.
The profile of the education sector over the coming years will be shaped by economic (national and international), technological and social forces. Of key importance will be the structure of public and private investment and the mix of industry shares towards GDP.
There is concern about labour skill shortages, which is the natural downside of full employment. Shortages reflect the education and continuous training priorities of the government and business, the flexibility of the workforce to move between industries, the overall labour force participation rate and retirement trends. As such, a labour skills shortage is the result of long-term imbalances between education and training and the identification of growth industries and growth regions (demography).
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has concluded it is very likely (> 90 per cent) that the earth's climate is being warmed by a rise in greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity (mostly, the burning of fossil fuels). However, climate change involves great uncertainty - we don't know just how much warming a given amount of greenhouse gases is going to cause, or when. The cost of that warming, the extent of actions needed to combat it and the cost of those actions are all uncertain too. We have estimates, but they are inexact and change over time.
Governance can be viewed in three main ways.
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List of the Top 50 Big Issues as ranked by CEDA's trustees in 2008.
Read more Agribusiness October 30, 2012
Watch videos from the Australian Water Project, Volume 2, The opportunity of crisis: A water reform agenda. This reform agenda was released in October 2012.
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