In the lead-up to the budget, the story of crisis has been hammered home, but there’s more to a country than its structural deficit. So how is Australia doing overall? In this special series, ten writers…
As the 2014-15 budget nears, Australians are hearing that the government must mount an urgent repair job to address the looming structural crisis that will see the budget in deficit for decades to come…
The provision of new infrastructure is a high priority for the Abbott government. It is a worthy cause. New infrastructure will ensure we remain competitive in the international market. Reducing logistics…
In the lead-up to the budget, the story of crisis has been hammered home, but there’s more to a country than its structural deficit. So how is Australia doing overall? In this special series, ten writers…
Due to Australia’s small population and high concentration of few media voices, public broadcasters play a pivotal role in shaping the media ecosystem and cultural landscape. With the ABC and SBS under…
As the 2014-15 budget nears, Australians are hearing that the government must mount an urgent repair job to address the looming structural crisis that will see the budget in deficit for decades to come…
Latest economic news shows some promising signs for the Australian economy. However, the new government’s first budget next Tuesday is a big unknown. The unemployment rate fell to 5.8% in March while full…
Governments are reining in spending on welfare, education and health care right across the western world. With the Commission of Audit recommending austerity measures that seemingly point to a tough federal…
As the 2014-15 budget nears, Australians are hearing that the government must mount an urgent repair job to address the looming structural crisis that will see the budget in deficit for decades to come…
The “massive infrastructure gap” prime minister Tony Abbott has set out to fix does not exist, according to new analysis of state and territory budgets by the Grattan Institute. The analysis found states…
There are some good ideas in the Commission of Audit report. Unfortunately they’re buried in so much else that it’s hard to find them. For a report focused on the costs and benefits of government, it shows…
The Commission of Audit’s proposals about GP co-payments are just that, proposals. They are not government policy, nor should they be. Some aspects of the Commission’s recommendations are good. But the…
In the lead-up to the federal budget on May 13 there have been the usual test balloons floated by the government. Raise the aged-pension eligibility age? A $6 co-pay for GP visits? Cuts to the ABC? And…
This week the Productivity Commission released its second Productivity Update. The Productivity Report reviews Australia’s “productivity performance” over the last year. It disaggregates the statistics…
By Thursday evening the rabbit will be out of the hat. The highly anticipated report of the National Commission of Audit will have been released. The Audit was set in motion soon after the Abbott government…
Prime Minister Tony Abbott today struggled to reconcile a mooted “deficit reduction levy” with his promise not to raise taxes, while also fending off attacks from within the Coalition on his expensive…
The fuss about corporate welfare, deemed “unsustainable” by Treasurer Joe Hockey, appears almost diversionary considering the relative size of industry assistance in overall government spending. Industry…
The Coalition government is currently rehearsing a well-honed rhetoric on “everyone having to do the heavy lifting” to justify Treasurer Joe Hockey’s slash and burn budget on social services and pension…
The prospect of a “debt” tax or some sort of “deficit levy” to assist with the budget bottom line should prompt a clearer debate about the virtues of raising taxes versus cutting expenditure as a means…
Last week, Treasurer Joe Hockey made a “case for change” in the way government spends money. His focus was largely on macro policy settings, such as pension entitlements, including access to schemes such…
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne