Productivity should top the list

The world has changed and the shocks of the past are no guide to action by the current Australian government, according to financial commentator and futurist, Max Walsh. Productivity - not equity - should now be at the top of the list, he said.

Speaking on ABC Radio National, Walsh said the Rudd government should focus on productivity, not wealth redistribution, in its response to the global financial crisis. This was not simply about a return to efficiency.

"The era of leverage is gone. The era of cheap energy is gone. The US will not be as powerful in the future as it has been in the past," he emphasised.

Walsh, who is Deputy Chairman of Dixon Associates, appeared as a guest panelist reviewing the political year on the Saturday Extra program.