Australia's entrepreneurial culture is among the most highly regarded in the world, but it remains one of the hardest places to fire staff, the founder of one the largest global recruitment firms says. 
"There is a lot of union-based, erroneous ... thinking that they think if we make it more difficult to fire someone, that's good," said Robert Walters, the founder and chief executive of recruitment firm Robert Walters.
"Actually, it means you don't hire anybody either because you know it's more expensive to fire them. Australia also has a reputation of being a little bit health and safety-driven - perhaps more than most countries."
Mr Walters said his personal view when it came to the public sector workforce was that it was inefficient, difficult to hold accountable and received incredible pension benefits.
He said the "staggering" pension benefits afforded to staff were placing a huge burden on the nation's budget.
However, the strong entrepreneurial culture in Australia was something that was being noticed internationally.
"On the one hand, there is quite a strong Labor-unionist heritage, but then you also have the Packers, Murdochs and the people - whatever you might think - [who are] without doubt entrepreneurs who have come out of Australia," he said.
"I think Australian entrepreneurs are viewed quite well internationally. The entrepreneurs and the leaders that come out of Australia travel well, they have a knowledge of the world. You punch above your weight.
"After Ireland, you've got the second-best passport in the world, the easiest one to move around with. You have an economy and legal system broadly similar to the United Kingdom and that makes it a very transferable skill set internationally. I am a big fan of the Aussie entrepreneurial culture."
The global recruitment firm has offices in 24 countries and Australia ranks as the third-top market for Robert Walters, behind Japan and Britain. "It's a growing profitability for us," Mr Walters said.
Despite Japan suffering through a recession for the past decade, Mr Walters said the office there had had the largest growth of any in the organisation and was now the most profitable office in the world.
Mr Walters said when it came to the Australian employment market, "the bad news is over", and he expected a stronger market in 2016 than over the past five years.
"Australia's can-do culture is definitely here.
"You're not a bunch of people who sit back and wait for things to happen - you tend to make things happen," Mr Walters said.
Key points
It's hard to sack workers here, says recruitment company founder.
Despite this, entrepreneurial culture is globally admired.