Speaking at a gathering of the plastics and chemical industries in Melbourne on Wednesday, Dow managing director for Australia and New Zealand Tony Frencham said there were worrying signs in the Australian economy and it was concerning that the major political parties were not showing a united front to fix the problems.

"I think a recession would help," he said.

"[The government] can't get any momentum behind them that we need some genuine reform. We don't have a sense of crisis in the country because it has been 23 years since we had a recession, which is an entire working lifetime for most people."

Mr Frencham said the legislation covering chemicals in Australia was not suited to a globalised era, the nation's domestic gas policies were unco-ordinated, the Abbott government's competitiveness agenda was guilty of picking winners, and the nation was failing to fully embrace Asia.

He said Australians needed to realise that they were part of a global competition and would fall behind other nations if they were not focused.

"We need a realisation that it is not just about us," he said.

"I would like to see both sides of government appreciate that jobs should not be a political debate. Supporting industry and supporting the creation of skilled jobs and the maintenance of skilled jobs should be something that we agree on and that we don't throw out after each change of government and start again."

Dow has long been outspoken on domestic gas issues in Australia, and said now was the perfect time for industry to be talking to governments about gas reforms in the two "problem states" of NSW and Victoria, where onshore gas extraction remains banned.

"The NSW government and the Victorian government have got to step up and co-operate with the federal government to solve this problem," he said.

Domestic gas prices are expected to rise over the next five to 10 years because the looming increase in LNG exports will force Australian consumers to pay international standard prices.

The trend is expected to particularly hurt manufacturers because of their need for large amounts of energy.

"The current Victorian government is spending some tens of millions of dollars a year expanding the gas network in Victoria to new towns. Now why would you do that if you know the gas price is going to go up and you are going to have a gas shortage?So we need an energy policy," Mr Frencham said.

His thoughts were shared by plastics manufacturer Qenos, which labelled a secure gas supply as Australia's "next great challenge".