Former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry has taken a swipe at both major parties' approach to restoring the budget's health, backing greater bipartisanship in a wide-ranging critique of political leadership around the world.

After the economy's shock contraction during the September quarter this week, Dr Henry also joined business calls for more public investment in infrastructure, which he described as the "elephant in the room."

Speaking in Sydney on Thursday night, Dr Henry, chairman of National Australia Bank, said his big hope for the next year was that the Coalition and Labor could figure out a way to deal with the country's "fiscal mess."

"My hope, and this is the most immediate challenge I can think for our political leaders, is that they can find a bi-partisan way of dealing with the fiscal mess that we've got," Dr Henry said at an Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce event.