Urbis has made a submission to the Select Committee for Productivity in Australia, focused on the role regional Australia can play in lifting national productivity.
Australia is experiencing a prolonged slowdown in productivity growth, particularly in labour productivity, which is the primary driver of long-term improvements in living standards. Following strong gains during the 1990s and early 2000s, productivity growth has weakened since the mid-2000s and has remained subdued over the past decade. Recent economic growth has been driven largely by population growth and increased hours worked rather than by producing more value per hour.
Our invited submission highlights that improving productivity won’t come from population growth alone. It requires a coordinated, long-term approach to settlement that aligns housing, jobs, and infrastructure investment.
Productivity presents as a spatial issue, which plays out differently across urban and regional Australia. It is shaped by the places in which people live and work. It is also a development industry issue, given the role the industry plays in delivering housing, employment floorspace, and infrastructure. More broadly, productivity is a social issue, influencing access to jobs, services and opportunity across the nation.
The recommendations we have put forward are aimed at growing opportunity in regional Australia and enabling regional cities and towns to play a stronger role in addressing the national productivity challenge.
This means backing places with the capacity to grow, investing in their people and communities, and ensuring infrastructure is delivered in the right locations, at the right time.
Read our full submission here.
We look forward to ongoing engagement with the Committee as it prepares its report over the coming months. The Committee is due to report to Parliament in September 2026.
