Instead of ‘winners and losers’, why not build an economy that’s good for all Australians?

Baby boomers were three times more likely to own their own home in their 30s than their counterparts today, Nicki Hutley writes. Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP

As pens and notepads were being laid out for start of the much-touted economic roundtable on Monday, the chair of the Productivity Commission, Danielle Wood, made a number of dark observations in an address to the National Press Club.

People in their 30s today, Wood told us, are the first generation to be worse off than those born in the previous decade in terms of earnings, housing affordability, budget burden and climate impacts. Her comments laid bare how important reform of so many aspects of the economy and regulation are if this situation is to change.