At a forum hosted in the firm's Melbourne office yesterday (4 August), as part of the Per Capita Reform Agenda Series, Denton stated that Australia has not fully grappled with the opportunities and implications of the dramatic rise in China's power and called upon Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Cabinet to oversee a white paper to assist Australia in optimising future opportunities arising from China's growth.

In her inaugural address at the forum, Gillard said she expects the demand for resources to continue and for commodity prices to remain high, despite debate about the sustainability and predicted level of China's growth. She admitted there was a "patchwork of effects and pressures" on the economy, sustained by the rise of the Australian dollar and the fact that "money runs and people run" to the growth industries.

While some targeting is already being carried out through regional economic development work and public-private industry partnerships around innovation, Gillard said there would be increasing emphasis on targeting regions and industries in the future.

Denton also asked Gillard to lead structural reform of the Commonwealth at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting later this year to ensure the Commonwealth continued to make sense.