In the early to mid-2000s governments throughout Australia introduced reforms restricting rights to claim for negligence. The tort of negligence and other statutory causes of action, including the prohibition…
Means-testing the child care rebate means some families are paying twice since their taxes already support education.
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Recent media reports suggest that the Productivity Commission into Child Care and Early Childhood Learning will recommend that the simplified single-payment child-care rebate is means-tested. This is not…
Treasurer Joe Hockey plans to reignite the economic reform debate early next year, but will he tackle the bigger-picture changes many economists have called for?
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
In November 1990, then treasurer Paul Keating announced that Australia was in recession – and that it was “the recession we had to have”. Today, there are growing calls for serious, structural economic…
The Productivity Commission report reflect the limits set by Tony Abbott when he announced terms of reference focused on economic benefit.
AAP/Alan Porritt
The Productivity Commission’s Draft Report on Childcare and Early Childhood Learning shows the serious limitations of market economics for analysing social policy. The report’s 900-plus pages offer a collection…
A government giving the Productivity Commission an issue to probe should always expect that it is likely to get back more than it bargained for. The commission, well known for both rigour and commitment…
The Productivity Commission contains many positive measures for Early Childhood Learning, but are they implementable?
AAP
The recommendations of the Productivity Commission into Childcare and Early Learning appear to be a win for early childhood learning. However, as with many reports such as this, the devil is in the detail…
Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s much debated paid parental leave policy has suffered another blow.
AAP/Nikki Short
The Productivity Commission has issued a challenge to Tony Abbott by saying that some funds from his expensive proposed paid parental leave scheme should be redirected to child care. In its Childcare and…
The government’s announcement that the age of entitlement is over may be a poisoned chalice for the Productivity Commission.
Daniel Munoz/AAP
Roy Green, University of Technology Sydney and Phillip Toner, University of Technology Sydney
Every year the Productivity Commission (PC) produces an annual report card on Australian government assistance to industry. And every year it singles out the “usual suspects” for attention, particularly…
Australia’s next crisis: productivity. But wait, it’s a slippery topic.
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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…
We should continue to agitate for fairer, cheaper and more just legal systems, after a Productivity Commission draft report noted the difficulties for many in accessing justice.
AAP/Dave Hunt
Half of all Australians will experience a legal problem this year. Most won’t get legal assistance or come into contact with our courts or other legal institutions. In part, this is because Australia’s…
The link between manufacturing cars and developing technology has been fundamental in Australia.
AAP
As I’ve argued before and it’s generally accepted, the car industry is a critical part of Australia’s science and technology base. The sector spends A$600 million a year on R&D and another $800 million…
Toyota has surprised with an announcement it would finish manufacturing cars here at the end of 2017.
AAP
Toyota has confirmed it will cease its vehicle and engine production in Australia by the end of 2017, signalling the end of automotive manufacturing in Australia. The announcement follows decisions by…
The Productivity Commission has recommended the car industry should receive no additional government funding.
AAP
Ford and Holden gone. SPC Ardmona in jeopardy. Toyota under threat. The Productivity Commission’s (PC) position paper on automotive industry support fires a clear shot across the bows of the manufacturing…
What’s wrong with the policy picture? Private childcare operators’ priorities are driven by profits, not social needs.
AAP/Joe Castro
Can the Productivity Commission review commissioned by the Abbott government recognise the possible failure of the market-model funding of many early childhood services? This rather broad term now covers…
The Productivity Commission has been considering what kind of government assistance is best for Australia’s embattled car manufacturing industry, but it may be too late after Holden announced its departure.
AAP/Eric Sands
A substantial increase in vehicle manufacturing is needed if Australia is ever to have a sustainable car industry, according to preliminary findings released today by the Productivity Commission’s inquiry…
Holden boss Mike Devereux says the car maker has made no decision on its future.
AAP
In the wake of the global financial crisis, Holden’s parent company, General Motors was placed on life support. Its fortunes collapsed along with the US economy, leading the United States government to…
Countries relying on private health insurance, such as the United States, pay far more for health care.
Kate Ter Haar
We have come to see private health insurance as an essential part of the national health funding mix, but it’s actually quite a costly way to fund health care. A well-designed system with a single national…
Holden may shut up shop in Australia, and the government is already considering the fallout.
Lukas Coch/AAP
The idea of further government support for the ailing automotive industry (AKA the Holden problem) generates considerable political and economic debate. For economists and business academics, it comes…
Many pensioners are living in homes that are too expensive for them, says the Grattan Institute’s John Daley, arguing adding the family home to the assets test for the age pension would spur on downsizing.
juicyrai/Flickr
Charis Palmer, The Conversation and Kylar Loussikian, The Conversation
The Australian Government should tighten the welfare system for older Australians, adding the family home to the assets test for the age pension and limiting tax concessions on superannuation contributions…
Treasurer Joe Hockey admits the government’s ‘open for business’ promise must be followed up with action.
Alan Porritt/AAP
From a three-and-a-half year high last month, business confidence data for October shows the post-election honeymoon is over, with business conditions continuing to underperform in non-mining sectors…
Incoming Director of the Australian Institute of Business and Economics at UQ, and Professor of Management, Faculty of Business and Economics, Macquarie University
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne