Trade unions will play a major role in the government's jobs and skills summit this week with more than 30 officials invited from across the country.
The final invitee list, which doesn't include federal politicians who will attend, has 143 names.
Among them are Australian of the Year Dylan Alcott, state Premiers, Chief Ministers and 19 executives of major companies, including Atlassian's Scott Farquhar, BHP boss Mike Henry, Woolworths' Brad Banducci, Alan Joyce from Qantas and Christine Holgate from Toll Group Express.
Universities, charities, think tanks, environment groups and two superannuation funds made the final list, but not the chief executives of the big four banks.
Instead, they will be represented by former Queensland premier and Australian Banking Association boss, Anna Bligh.
"While you can't represent the full diversity of Australia with a room full of people, we're giving as many individuals a voice through this process as we can," Treasurer Jim Chalmers said.
"The summit will bring people together with a range of views and experiences to help us nut out some of the nation's biggest challenges," he added.
"Despite a decade of drift, division and dysfunction, people haven't given up hope on finding common ground."
Business groups form united front
The major business and employer lobby groups, which along with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) have been at the centre of much pre-summit wrangling, are also all attending.
There had appeared to be division within the business community about what sort of deals could be struck with the ACTU this week on the thorny topic of wage and workplace condition bargaining.
A lot of talk had again centred around the Better Off Overall Test, or BOOT, which governs enterprise bargaining arrangements and an in-principle deal on multi-employer bargaining, which was agreed by the ACTU and the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia (COSBOA).
The COSBOA deal in particular had concerned a few members of business and industry groups.
But on Tuesday afternoon the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Australian Industry Group and the Business Council of Australia formed a united front, issuing a "joint statement of ambition".
It stressed the limits of the consultation that could be achieved at the summit, emphasising that the Employment White Paper, which will be developed after the meeting "offers many more opportunities for much broader engagement".
The ACTU has argued multi-workplace pay agreements are a good way of increasing wages and that changes to bargaining arrangements are key to ending real wage falls.
"Allowing workers to band together across workplaces to bargain is an essential way of getting wages moving again," ACTU secretary Sally McManus said last week.
The agenda of the day-and-a-half long summit at Parliament House in Canberra focuses heavily on wages growth, skills shortages and bargaining.
There are expected to be announcements on increasing the skilled migrant intake from its current level of 160,000 a year to between 190-200,000 a year, as well as discussions about how to bolster TAFE and training for in-demand skills.
Liberal concerns over union power grab
Along with the ACTU, the summit will also be attended by the CFMEU, Health Services Union, Rail, Tram and Bus Union, TWU and AWU.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton won't be going but his NSW state counterpart Dominic Perrottet, who is turning up, has stated he's worried unions will have too much influence.
The Greens have the opposite concern and fear big business will get too many concessions.
The party's Leader Adam Bandt, who holds 12 key votes in the Senate, will on Wednesday again warn he won't pass jobs summit related legislation that could leave workers worse off when they strike pay deals.
At the National Press Club on Monday Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared the biggest outcome he wants from the gathering is a "new culture of cooperation" where people and organisations work together to advance common interests.
