The policy settings for productivity growth in Australia are out of whack. Fred Hilmer, one of the architects of the reforms that helped set up Australia's outstanding productivity boom that began in the mid-1990s, says current microeconomic policy has a critical missing piece – competition. To reverse the nation's recent productivity slump, more incentives for competition are needed, along with further reductions in company and marginal taxes, insists Hilmer, president and vice-chancellor of the University of New South Wales. But, don't hold your breath. Rapid economic reform is highly unlikely due to budgetary constraints and political risk in the post-election environment, he tells Knowledge@Australian School of Business.