The main question to ask of the Harper report is: what will make a tangible difference to our economic prosperity?
To help Australia meet its G20 commitments, infrastructure projects like Sydney’s WestConnex require a more stringent and transparent cost-benefit analysis.
Dan Himbrechts/AAP
The OECD’s Going for Growth report released this week is a good reminder of why Tony Abbott wants to be remembered as “the infrastructure Prime Minister”. The OECD argues addressing infrastructure service…
Like Bill Murray’s character in Groundhog Day, Australia must change its way of thinking – or else we face the grim fate of being trapped in an economic rut.
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The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting wraps up off the piste in the Swiss ski resort this weekend. Two themes are growth and stability; and innovation and industry. Attendees must feel like Bill Murray…
Amidst the hugging of cuddly animals, G20 leaders talked growth.
Andrew Taylor/G20 Australia/AAP
In April, Treasurer Joe Hockey set the tone for his economics policies in a speech in New York on what he referred to as ending the “entitlement culture”. Hockey, who had given a defining speech in 2012…
What would a Eurozone trade agreement with Australia involve?
AAP/EPA/KAY NIETFELD
Harald Sander, Cologne University of Applied Sciences (CUAS)
Shortly after the G20 summit in Brisbane, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced initiatives to increase trade and investment relations between Germany and…
John Howard made sure he was facing the same way as other world leaders on climate policy, unlike the current Prime Minister.
AAP Image/David Crosling
Throughout his prime-ministership, which ran from 1996 to 2007, John Howard’s perspective on climate change was informed by geopolitics more than science. The Kyoto Protocol, the key international climate…
Many countries still need to clean up their act on anti-corruption and whistleblowing protections.
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Despite the adoption of a third two-year G20 Anti-Corruption Action Plan, corruption received only a few lines in the latest G20 leaders’ communique. The credibility of the G20 as a whole now rests on…
Not all leaders agree on the path to boosting economic growth.
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G20 leaders have put growth and employment at the centre of the global agenda. To spur collective growth by more than 2% over five years, member countries have agreed to implement a package of structural…
There’s nothing quite like being the centre of attention, even if it costs A$400 million to do so. Now that the curtain has come down on Australia’s moment in the diplomatic spotlight, taxpayers might…
Many G20 members have now pledged contributions to the Green Climate Fund, but Australia has signalled it will not.
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The G20 summit in Brisbane has put the pressure on Australia to boost its action on climate change not just at home but also internationally through a new UN-backed fund. The summit yielded major pledges…
G20 leaders agreed to an economic growth target of 2.1% by 2018.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
Despite Australia’s best efforts, climate change muscled its way onto the G20 agenda. The summit’s final communique included one paragraph restating the importance of international negotiations in Paris…
Never before has Australia been more at the heart of global affairs. Here in Brisbane we have finished our year as G20 President, with the G20 leaders presenting their communiqué. A series of significant…
OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration Director Pascal Saint-Amans has been leading the charge against tax avoidance.
Dominika Lis/G20 Australia
The G20 Communique is good news on the international tax reform front. As part of the G20 commitment to boost economic resilience the Communique commits G20 nations to taking action to ensure fairness…
United on the need for stronger economic growth.
Lukas Coch/AAP
The G20 leaders have reaffirmed a commitment to raise global growth, saying if more than 800 agreed measures are “fully implemented”, GDP will grow by an additional 2.1% by 2018, adding more than US$2…
The risks facing the planet call for a new approach to economics.
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Focusing on growth, the Brisbane G20 leaders’ summit has not grappled with three key issues. How much more growth can the planet survive? How can poorer nations raise their living standards to parity with…
Rebalancing towards Asia…with values.
Dan Peled/AAP
US President Barack Obama took to the stage at the University of Queensland in Brisbane on a day which had the soles of your shoes melting. We had been through a complicated but reasonable security process…
Economic growth is a significant contributor to the climate change crisis.
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The recent US-China climate announcement is a significant development in humanity’s equivocal response to the climate crisis. Despite over four decades of political engagement with climate change, tangible…
Latin American countries, including Argentina, represent a significant trade opportunity for Australia.
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While much of Australia’s media has been covering Abbott’s macho stance on Russian President Vladimir Putin, the G20 meetings will be focusing on how best to improve global trade, which severely declined…
The G20 sherpas might not always be easy to spot, but they’re worth watching.
Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet/Flickr
The spotlight may be on the leaders at this weekend’s G20 Leaders’ Summit in Australia, but who will be behind the leaders at the big table in Brisbane? The G20 sherpas are very senior officials who have…
University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Stephen Parker and Michelle Grattan discuss the week in politics including the G20, Russian warships in international waters near Australia, and the tension between…