Liberal MP Ted O’Brien Finally Pipes Up After 55 Gruelling Minutes At Productivity Roundtable: “Lunch?”

CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT

The long-awaited Federal Government’s ‘Productivity Roundtable’ is officially underway, as Treasurer Jim Chalmers invites industry leaders, finance experts, trade unions, and representatives from across the political aisle to join him in discussing ways to forge a more versatile and future-proof economy.

Joining the Labor Party on the round table is Independent MP Allegra Spender, and Liberal Party deputy leader Ted O’Brien.

With swathes of clerical and white collar jobs looking to be decimated by Artificial Intelligence, and Australian manufacturing packed up and offshored in the early 2000s, the Federal Government is desperate to find a way to make money outside of digging up rocks that ruin the planet, and speculating on the manipulated value of residential family homes.

The two-day summit will be organised around three themes: resilience, productivity and budget sustainability – and tax reform.

Jim Chalmers has called the summit “a really important opportunity” and has asked the participants to think big, because nothing is off the table.

However, after a six-week election campaign, and only one Parliamentary sitting week since then, it seems that two full days of furious debate and discussion will be a shock to the system for the career bureaucrats, who are being expected to come up with tangible results.

With the whole nation watching every development, and awaiting to read the thoroughly documented minutes of this historic political event, there is nowhere for the delegates to hide.

This kind of results-based politics is both rare and unfamiliar for the Australian Federal Government, particularly the Liberal representative Ted O’Brien.

As the local MP for the safe retiree heartland of Noosa, Ted O’Brien has been involved in the Liberal Party since his first campaign in metropolitan Brisbane at the 2007 Federal Election.

In 2013, he finally secured the pre-selection for the seat of Fairfax, before losing to the short-lived political dynamo Clive Palmer. In 2016, he had another crack and won, he then spent 9 years in obscurity as a backbencher until Peter Dutton decided to tarnish his reputation by making him the party spokesperson for nuclear energy.

After the bloodbath of the 2025 election, he has since been elevated to Deputy Leader, as one of the few ‘moderates’ that survived the Teal wave.

And this week’s productivity roundtable is a great chance for him to assert himself as the future of conservative politics in Australia.

After 55 exhausting minutes of discussion, Ted O’Brien takes his opportunity to offer a different perspective to the Labor-dominated summit.

“Lunch?” he says.

His comment is met with sighs and groans by his fellow participants, who feel like they are only just breaking ground in the first session.

“Is lunch being provided by the way?’ he follows up.

“I didn’t bring my wallet. I can go get it, but I parked pretty far away. I feel like everyone is running out of steam here. Should we just take an hour or so and come back recharged for the arvo sesh?”