Grattan Institute’s Owain Emslie & Danielle Wood The Newstart unemployment benefit is all over the news. It’s the subject of a Senate inquiry. Today, it will take evidence in Elizabeth, in what used to be Adelaide’s industrial north. Should it be increased? Should recipients be paid with a cashless card? Or drug tested? Or stripped […]
Brendan Coates Grattan Institute Carmela Chivers Grattan Institute Compared to the rest of the world, income inequality is not particularly high in Australia, nor is it becoming much worse. The real problem is housing inequality. Rising house prices have increased wealth inequality. Rising housing costs have dramatically widened the gap between high and low disposable […]
Pope Francis has invited young economists, researchers, entrepreneurs, and change-makers under the age of 35 to come to Assisi for an international event on 26-28 March 2020 to discuss ideas for social and economic reform. The proposal for the Economy of Francesco is to engage the creativity of young researchers and scholars – beyond differences […]
Gary Harkin. Reinforcing the view that change is in the air in regard to how big business interfaces with the wider community, in August 2019, the US Business Roundtable, an important assembly of leading American business organisations, published The Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation, signed by 181 influential CEOs. It could be argued […]
As the ‘miracle’ Morrison government settles into its new term of office, Australians are expecting significant developments in public policy. As Michael Keating writes in his review of the Australian National Outlook Report for 2019 by the CSIRO and its partners, the Coalition was re-elected ‘with almost no policies’, except for inequitable tax cuts and […]
A significant new report was released last week on the Australian National Outlook by the CSIRO. In this article, I summarise the report’s discussion of the key challenges and policy choices Australia faces, which will affect our future over the next fifty years. As we are repeatedly reminded, unlike other countries, Australia has enjoyed 27 […]
The Government’s tax package is unfair to low paid workers. In response, the Labor Opposition announced that it will support Stage 1 of the package, within which is embedded much of that unfairness. How might we reduce the unfairness? The current debate about the Government’s tax package, introduced in its April 2019 Budget, includes issues […]
Danusia Kaska. Recently, I attended a training workshop on ice awareness and use, run by 360Edge and funded by the government. Entitled How to respond to people affected by ice, workshop objectives were to explain what ice is, how it affects people, and how we should respond safely and effectively. It also outlined the policies […]
Prof Ross Garnaut delivers a six-part seminar series on the challenges and opportunities of energy transition in Australia. The seminars (also available by webinar) will build the case for energy transition, calling on knowledge of climate science and studies of the economic benefits of mitigation. A sectoral analysis, covering in particular the electricity sector, transport and […]
Frank Bongiorno, Australian National University. This is part of a major series, called Advancing Australia, in which leading academics examine the key issues facing Australia in the lead-up to the 2019 federal election and beyond. Read the other pieces in the series here. What will a Shorten government be like? It’s hazardous to predict how […]
Sarah Puls. I have the power to show, through the choices I make, that everybody matters, that I don’t want any slaves working for me, says Good Samaritan Sister Sarah Puls. One of the most courageous people I’ve ever had the pleasure to know is a woman named Mary (not her real name), who was […]
