Nuclear power should be on the table: BCA

Date April 17, 2013 - 12:54PM

Nuclear power should be put back on the national agenda, women should occupy 50 per cent of executive positions, and the teaching of Asian language should be compulsory in schools, Australia's peak business body says.

Describing the next six months as "critical" for Australia, the Business Council of Australia - representing the chief executives of Australia's largest companies - has slammed the lack political of focus on "creating jobs, raising living standards and securing long-term prosperity".

"In Australia, it's a choice. A choice that no-one seems intent to be making at the moment," BCA president Tony Shepherd told the National Press Club in Canberra today.

"Australia's current preparation for the future is somewhere between half-hearted and non-existent," he said. "Even though some of these challenges are well and truly upon us, we talk about them as though there's still some time.

"We must act now, while we can secure national prosperity through careful and incremental change."