Dealing with climate change will be as important for the next Australian government as dealing with the deficit in the view of the 23 leading economists surveyed for the Scope BusinessDay Economic Survey.
Asked the open-ended question: "What should be the top priorities for the incoming or returned Australian government?" seven nominated climate change, the same number that nominated winding back the deficit.
Victoria University economic modeller Janine Dixon said axing the carbon tax was an opportunity lost. It would have been "an efficient form of revenue collection and a step in the right direction on carbon mitigation".
Monash University's Jakob Madsen labelled the repeal of the tax "the crime of the century". The incoming government should reintroduce it and extend it to all fossil fuels including petrol.
Australian Industry Group economic manager Julie Toth said the government needed to articulate a clear climate change policy in order to give business certainty.
University of Newcastle professor Bill Mitchell called for an orderly closure of coal mines and coal-fired power stations in tandem with regional development programs to help those who lose jobs adjust.
Saul Eslake said the government needed to set out a clear path towards carbon neutrality, outlining how it would make more use of renewable energy while ensuring that the entire nation isn't dependent on power from conventional sources at times when wind generation was low as is the case in South Australia.
Several of the panel members who nominated winding back the deficit stressed that it should be done in a "measured" manner in order to maintain reasonable economic growth.
BT Australia economist Chris Caton said the keys to winding back the deficit were more fully taxing superannuation, restraining spending and reconsidering the idea of an increase in the GST.
There was a case for splitting the budget in two so that the recurrent part came back into balance while the capital part continued to grow as the government borrowed to fund worthwhile investments. Saul Eslake said the idea would only work if there was greater rigour and transparency in the selection of projects. Julie Toth said science, technology, engineering and maths skills and as well as vocational training should be considered worthwhile investments.
Other priorities nominated by the panel included reviving the conversation about Australia's federal system that got derailed by the government's decision to abandon the white paper process, sweeping reform of health and education and state/federal relations to reduce waste and duplication, boosting taxes on "sugar, petrol, and read meat and other junk-food products that are bad for health and the environment" with the revenue used to cut income tax and adopting a 3 per cent unemployment rate as a national objective.
