Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says Australians will have to accept policies that create short-term "winners and losers" in the interests of strengthening the economy for all.

Mr Turnbull made the comments in a wide-ranging speech to the Business Council of Australia in Sydney on Thursday night, before flying to the APEC summit in Peru.

He said the Australian economy must become more "flexible and competitive", but in the wake of Donald Trump's election win in the United States, Mr Turnbull also emphasised the need for reform that was "seen to be fair".

"We must not ignore the fact that the impacts of change can be borne unevenly across the community," Mr Turnbull said.

"To overcome disquiet we must ensure that the benefits of open markets deliver, and are seen to deliver for all Australians, not just a few."

The Prime Minister said 25 years of continuous economic growth in Australia sometimes made the case for changing economic policy more challenging.

"The need to undertake reforms to deliver long-term gains for all Australians, which may create winners and losers in the near term, isn't keenly felt in many parts of Australian society," Mr Turnbull said.

"We risk becoming victims of a complacency that fails to recognise the hard work that enabled our economic success, and the need for it to continue if that success is to be enduring."

PM remains committed to 'important' business tax cuts

The Federal Opposition has consistently argued the Government's 10-year plan to cut the corporate tax rate to 25 per cent is fundamentally unfair.

Business groups say the US President-elect's campaign promise to cut the US rate to 15 per cent makes change in Australia all the more necessary.

The Prime Minister remains committed to the plan.

"We also know that the more you tax investment, the less investment you get," Mr Turnbull told his business audience.

"In a competitive world global investment can go anywhere, which is why our tax cuts for business are so important."

That bill is yet to even reach the Senate, but Mr Turnbull again called on the Opposition to embrace a spirit of co-operation.

"I'm determined to do everything I can to ensure the 45th Parliament works, and so pragmatism, negotiation and consensus should be the order of the day," he said.

Trade Minister Steve Ciobo has also begun negotiations with his counterparts ahead of the summit.

Labor said it was taking a more constructive approach than Tony Abbott did as opposition leader, during the 43rd Parliament, and each piece of legislation would be judged on its merits.

"I think we do need to heed a lesson that we've seen from Brexit in the UK, and from the election of Donald Trump in the US, and that is that there's a lot of people, a lot of middle class and working class people that are really hurting," Opposition trade spokesman Jason Clare told AM.

"They're angry that their standard of living is going down and not up, they're earning less now that they were 10 years ago, and they're looking to government to try and fix this, increase real wages, reduce inequality."

'We need US and China working together', says Trade Minister

The Prime Minister is now taking his economic message to the APEC summit in Peru, where Mr Trump's election win is likely to overshadow the official agenda.

Trade Minister Steve Ciobo has conceded the future of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal is now "grim", but he said Australian officials at APEC would focus on another region-wide agreement known as the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific.

Mr Clare said the Prime Minister should use the opportunity to encourage the US and China away from any protectionist rhetoric, like that threatened by Mr Trump during the US election campaign.

"The possibility of the US Government imposing 45 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods and the retaliation catapulting us into a trade war in the region isn't good for anybody," he said.

"What we need are the two countries actually talking to each other, and working together, and building a trade agreement that involves both of them, but also involves Australia and the region."

But he said any new, APEC wide agreement must include protections for Australian jobs.

"It's common sense that before you bring a worker in from overseas you should check if there's an Australian who can do that job," Mr Clare told AM.

"The Turnbull Government took that away in the TPP, it's important they don't do that in any of these other, regional, free trade agreements."