Home topics news Gavan Ord, Business and Investment Lead, CPA Australia. News News Australia’s productivity slump has a small business problem and regulation is making it worse Yajush Gupta February 26, 2026 CPA Australia told a federal parliamentary committee that red tape is a direct drag on productivity, and small businesses are feeling it most. What’s happening: CPA Australia has warned a federal parliamentary committee that Australia’s productivity crisis is no longer a slow-burn problem. Why this matters: For small business owners, this is not abstract. CPA Australia says regulatory overload is imposing significant and growing costs on smaller operators, while lagging technology adoption risks widening the gap further. Australia’s largest accounting body is done waiting for incremental change. In a submission to the federal government’s Select Committee on Productivity in Australia, CPA Australia has delivered a pointed warning: the productivity crisis is serious, it is worsening, and small businesses are paying a price governments have been too slow to acknowledge. No quick fix CPA Australia’s Business and Investment Lead, Gavan Ord, was direct in his assessment. “Australia is running out of time. If productivity continues to stagnate, living standards will go backwards and the economy will struggle to sustain growth,” Ord said. “This is not an abstract policy debate. Weak productivity ultimately means lower wages growth and fewer opportunities for Australian businesses and workers.” The submission, which draws on recent work with the federal government and the Productivity Commission, argues that piecemeal reforms and short-term political thinking have failed