ASR is the voice of professional services, aiming to secure Australia’s place in the global economy
Background
ASR is the only dedicated whole-of-services industry organisation and is part of the Global Services Coalition (GSC). Currently, services do not register sufficiently on Australia’s public policy radar. There has been no national research effort, and services do not feature in any of the Government’s national competitiveness strategies. Creating a national services competitiveness strategy is essential as we move away from a resource focused economy. With up to 1.5 billion people moving into Asia’s middle class over the next 15 years, Australia must ensure it is in the best position to take advantage of the opportunities at our doorstep.
Purpose
Services employ 85% of Australians, represent 78% of industry value-add, yet comprise only 20% of Australia’s total exports. Our purpose is to address these gaps in understanding and realise opportunities for the benefit of our members, professional service industries, SMEs, and micro-multinationals. We believe this is vitally important for all aspects of Australia’s economic, environmental, social and cultural future.
Priorities
- We seek to develop the Australian professional services sector and facilitate market opportunities for our stakeholders.
- We see services productivity, competitiveness, skills innovation and investment into human capital infrastructure pivotal to the success of professional services.
- We support and ensure efficient regulatory settings for the services sector. Australia’s success is built on this.
- We create new international services trade opportunities, investment channels and lead national research efforts to improve statistical data bases.
Capabilities
Business intelligence Research Policy formulation Digital transformation solutions
Industry representation Networking access Policy discussions & GSC involvement
Industries
We represent the broadest possible range of services sectors. These include but are not limited to:
Financial Services Professional Services Health Service Providers
Export Education Services Environmental Services Energy Services
Logistics Tourism Information Technology
Telecommunications Transport Standards and Conformance
Audio-visual Media & Entertainment Cultural & Other Business Services
Objectives
We stimulate research promote international and domestic policy reform and identify regulatory obstacles to enhance international service competitiveness. We advocate and represent the interests of services industries to government building a strong public profile for the services sector. We focus on issues including:
Trade Policy Industry Development Competition Policy
Investment Policy Immigration Policy Taxation Policy Digital Innovation
We contribute to strategies for negotiating services trade and investment issues in various bodies and international agreements:
World Trade Organisation (WTO) Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
Free Trade Agreements Other bilateral & regional agreements
Board of Directors
Holly Dorber
James Bond
Eve Brown
Kaaren Koomen AM
John Richardson
Board Member
Director – Cox Richardson
Jane Drake-Brockman
Peter Draper
Peter Geoghegan
Board Member
Founder of Geotron engineering consulting.
Jesse Riddell
Jed Horner
International partners
