After a smooth take-off, big business and Albanese have hit turbulence

The compact with the United States that in effect recognises Australia as a favoured supplier of critical minerals has been widely lauded. On climate change, there has even been strong support for the government’s safeguard mechanism across the business sector, including among heavy carbon emitters. The corporate sector, after all, has long pushed for a carbon trading scheme.

The Coalition, by comparison, often seems at odds with big business, as Opposition Leader Peter Dutton criticises the corporate sector for being “woke”, particularly over its support for the Yes campaign.

But now business is under attack from all sides. Rising interest rates and surging inflation had already created a febrile atmosphere, but this has been heightened by the scandals at Qantas and PwC. The way the PwC episode has morphed from a relatively technical tax matter into a mainstream story underscores how sensitive the public is to any hint that big business has used its connections, size and scale to feather its own nest.

The Senate’s cost-of-living inquiry, which Joyce appeared at just a week before his departure, looms as a new stalking horse for politicians seeking to paint businesses as the villains whose fat, post-COVID profits should be tapped to help ease the pain of taxpayers and debt-laden governments. Indeed, there was already a distinct “us against them” feel to the Queensland government’s decision to lift coal royalties last year, the NSW government’s similar move this month, and the Victorian government’s decision in May to lift payroll taxes.

The federal government’s decision not to extend the contract of Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe – a move broadly criticised inside corporate Australia – can be read through a similar lens. The huge jump in interest rates since May last year had to be someone’s fault; the Albanese government decided to make Lowe that someone.

Ironically, Qantas announced its record $2.5 billion profit late last month, in the evening after the Business Council of Australia hosted Albanese at its annual dinner. There, president Tim Reed gently pressed the lobby group’s case for productivity and tax reform, and pushed back against the government’s industrial relations changes, which are despised by most in the corporate sector.

With The Australian Financial Review Magazine’s overt power list notably devoid of business people, the duo most likely to prosecute the case for reform are Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn and BHP boss Mike Henry. The Financial Review panel struggled to separate the pair when deciding who belongs at the top of the corporate power list; Henry has been the leading business voice against Labor’s industrial relations reform and has become a proponent of gender equality.

Comyn, unlike Joyce, largely sidestepped criticism over a $10.2 billion profit and has cemented his position as a thoughtful contributor on everything from housing affordability and economic reform to climate change and generational inequality. In the ultimate view of the panel, the sheer size of CBA’s consumer-facing business lifted Comyn to the top of the business power list.

Another notable mover is Mike Cannon-Brookes, who slides from second position on last year’s business power list to ninth. The technology billionaire remains a powerful start-up investor and vocal proponent of renewable energy. But his victory in last year’s AGL Energy boardroom battle has allowed him to take a lower profile in corporate circles this year.

The AFR Magazine annual Power issue is out Friday, September 29, inside The Australian Financial Review. Follow AFR Mag on Twitter and Instagram.