Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
Where the City’s top thinkers get a few things off their chest. Today, Neil Bennett, co-CEO of H/Advisors, takes the pen.
Lessons from a Land Down Under
I’ve recently returned from Australia, where we celebrated the acquisition of the latest part of the H/Advisors Group – APA, the country’s leading public affairs firm. Only a week ago I was standing on Sydney’s harbour front bathed in warm evening sunshine, chatting to senior figures from business and government – it’s a tough job but someone has to do it.
Australia represents an interesting portent of the shape of things to come here in the UK, and more specifically in the UK’s business community. Almost two years ago it elected a Labour government led by Anthony Albanese, who managed to persuade voters that he was moderate enough to replace the widely disliked conservative coalition government led by Scott Morrison. Albanese made all sorts of encouraging noises to the business community to secure its support during the election and everything seemed set fair.
Not so fair however since he and his party took power. In two short years it appears the Australian business community has become public enemy number one. The government has launched a series of probes and inquiries across a swath of industries, so much so that it seems a prominent CEO is put in the stocks… sorry, appears in front of a Senate committee every day. The supermarkets and airlines are being investigated on pricing, the accountants on conflicts of interests, the automotive industry on emissions, and the list goes on.
All this is good populist stuff – the government can strut and preen and declare it is on the side of ordinary working people, without it costing them a bean. We can expect more of it as Albanese tries to reverse the slide in his party’s popularity. But it is undermining confidence in the business community as a whole and the whole financial and economic climate in the country has become one of conflict and uncertainty, which is hardly beneficial for growth.
The lesson for the UK’s business community is clear, as we count down the days before the almost certain arrival of a Labour government. Do not expect an easy ride, but strap in and buckle up tightly. Sir Keir Starmer might make encouraging noises about enterprise and growth, just as Albanese did. But Labour will place business under greater scrutiny than ever before and its natural instincts are to regulate and control, rather than liberalise. Admittedly the Conservatives have hardly been a beacon of free enterprise in the past decade, more’s the pity. But I doubt anyone in the private sector will find life better with Sir Keir in Number 10.
Sense from the BBC – at last!
And finally, the director general of the BBC has said what the rest of us have been saying for years. The BBC’s funding and the licence fee specifically is not sustainable in its current form and fundamental reform is needed.
Frankly the BBC’s emblem should be an ostrich, rather than an eagle, given how long it has had its head in the sand over this immoveable fact.
Now we should have a proper public debate on what should replace the licence fee and how the whole corporation needs to be restructured around a new funding model. There is a major political win here for a government willing to grasp it. Imagine halving the licence fee to pay for news, current affairs and radio and then moving to a subscription for everything else the iPlayer offers (including the BBC’s vast and rich back catalogue).
BBC News would then have the funding it needed to remain a globally respected news source, while all the creativity and vibrancy in BBC entertainment would be unleashed to compete, freed from its vague but heavy public service burden. It took courage for Tim Davie to say what he did last week – let’s hope he now has the vision to back it up.
Top Trumps
Despite the fear many of us have about a second Trump presidency, I couldn’t help but crack a smile when I saw that the listing of the shares in his media company have gifted him a $5.5bn fortune. This fortune is after all based on the social media platform he was forced to launch when he was banned from Facebook and Twitter. In other words, the liberal community that barred him from social media have inadvertently conspired to make him a lot, lot richer. Now that is irony.
Recommendation: The Dropout
Speaking of the BBC, my iPlayer has just made available a great series about Elizabeth Holmes and the Theranos scandal. Originally made and aired by Hulu a couple of years ago, this gives licence fee payers the opportunity to watch a shocking tale of greed and hubris in the venture capital world, with the main role well played by Amanda Seyfried. Well worth watching – even perhaps for Holmes, who is still serving time in Texas.
The Notebook: Albanese’s turn on business might offer a glimpse into Starmer’s Britain
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03.04.2024
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese Where the City’s top thinkers get a few things off their chest. Today, Neil Bennett, co-CEO of H/Advisors, takes the pen.
Lessons from a Land Down Under
I’ve recently returned from Australia, where we celebrated the acquisition of the latest part of the H/Advisors Group – APA, the country’s leading public affairs firm. Only a week ago I was standing on Sydney’s harbour front bathed in warm evening sunshine, chatting to senior figures from business and government – it’s a tough job but someone has to do it.
Australia represents an interesting portent of the shape of things to come here in the UK, and more specifically in the UK’s business community. Almost two years ago it elected a Labour government led by Anthony Albanese, who managed to persuade voters that he was moderate enough to replace the widely disliked conservative coalition government led by Scott Morrison. Albanese made all sorts of encouraging noises to the business community to secure its support during the election and everything seemed set fair.
Not so fair however since he and his party took power. In two short years it appears the Australian business community has........
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