Opinion & Commentary

Opinion and Commentary contains media articles written by CIS researchers.

Should teenaged shop workers receive a pay rise?

12 Jul 2013 | The Drum

A wages claim to pay young retail workers equally to adults may sound like a good idea, but it will be a hard sell. Read More

Union campaign emotive but misleading

21 Jun 2013 | ON LINE Opinion

It is misleading to assert that Australian workers are being overworked in insecure jobs. Read More

Politics over policy in industrial relations

29 May 2013 | ON LINE Opinion

Employers should be able to determine wages and conditions for new projects. It simply does not make sense that unions must be involved in every new greenfields agreements. Read More

Awards don't deliver fair go

23 May 2013 | The Australian

It is possible to increase labour market flexibility, create more jobs and keep the fair go alive by abolishing the outdated industrial award system. Read More

Time to scrap the minimum wage?

28 Feb 2013 | Business Spectator

To get the unemployed back into work, the government could allow businesses a six-month exemption from the minimum award wage. Read More

A failure of enterprise bargaining mechanics

30 Jan 2013 | Business Spectator

Australia's current enterprise bargaining system makes it difficult for automotive manufacturers to improve their performance and save jobs. Read More

Increasing Newstart would be a costly failure

25 Jan 2013 | The Punch

An increase in the base rate of Newstart Allowance will not do much to break down the barriers to employment for the long term unemployed. Read More

Our award system is costing too much

14 Jan 2013 | Australian Financial Review

Reforming labour market policy must look to the award system, a key part of our flexibility and productivity problem. Read More

A war that’s building over bottles of beer

29 Nov 2012 | The Punch

Watering down the building and construction industry watchdog has emboldened the union movement. Read More

Better ideas than raising super guarantee

28 Nov 2012 | Australian Financial Review

Is compulsory super improving retirement incomes and reducing future demands on the budget from an ageing population? Read More

The real solution to poverty: J-O-B-S, J-O-B-S, J-O-B-S

29 Oct 2012 | The Punch

Moving people off welfare and into full-time jobs would do more to address poverty than increasing the value of welfare benefits. Read More

Labour debate ignores status quo

12 Oct 2012 | The Canberra Times

Individual contracts form a pivotal part of the workplace system and have been far more important for labour market flexibility than the statutory agreements of the Howard era. Read More

Disability employment: noble cause, failed policy

25 Jun 2012 | The Drum

The National Disability Recruitment Coordinator program is the latest in a series of policy failures from the Government. Read More

Tighten the rules on welfare payments

08 Jun 2012 | ON LINE Opinion

There is more to welfare reform than amalgamating the benefits. Read More

Only migrant workers can fill the gap

05 Jun 2012 | Australian Financial Review

Temporary, skilled migration is the only viable solution for the resources sector. Read More

IR duplication hinders competitive federalism

02 May 2012 | ON LINE Opinion

Industrial relations matters should be left to the states. Read More

Liberals Drop Ball in Super Free-For-All

14 Nov 2011 | Australian Financial Review

Lifting superannuation to 12% is wrong. Read More

Sighs of relief heard from the bankers' bunkers

16 Sep 2011 | The Age

Alas, the GFC showed that it is impossible for democratic governments to let large financial institutions fail, however much they should. It is a government's job to free taxpayers from unwittingly providing... Read More

Wet ink on a euro death notice

13 Sep 2011 | Business Spectator

The euro has been a moribund currency for years. The remaining options to buy it more time have been blocked by the German constitutional court. To end this farcical tragedy someone needs to put the final... Read More

Same cracks, just a new coat of paint

07 Sep 2011 | The Australian Financial Review

Analysis of the NSW Budget Read More

Time to revisit RBA board

07 Sep 2011 | The Australian Financial Review

Union leaders would have you believe that the board of the Reserve Bank of Australia is beholden to the big end of town, but the current unnecessarily tight monetary policy indicates that this is not the... Read More

NSW budget: time to cut and shed Mick Dundee image

06 Sep 2011 | Crikey

With a public service head count just shy of 390,000, NSW puts the Commonwealth government, with a mere 270,000 staff, to shame. Macquarie Street employs 10% of the NSW workforce. Read More

Don't get starry-eyed about housing

05 Sep 2011 | Sydney Morning Herald

In textbook markets there is no need for price forecasts. Prices are determined by the interaction of supply and demand. If you fed a supercomputer with all the relevant information about buyer preferences,... Read More

Don't get starry-eyed about housing

05 Sep 2011 | Sydney Morning Herald

A miracle that masks a mirage

01 Sep 2011 | The Australian

As it turns out, there is not much in the German manufacturing example that Australia should copy. We would be much better advised to make the best of our own comparative advantages of being a resource-rich... Read More

A poisoned chalice of EU power

25 Aug 2011 | Business Spectator

Eurobonds had not even been on the agenda (officially, that is), and an EU-wide tax on financial transactions almost certainly will die aborning. In another way, however, the Merkel and Sarkozy show was... Read More

Who needs credit ratings? They should be optional

23 Aug 2011 | Crikey

Banks and investors should thrive or die by the quality of their own assessments of credit risk. They have the most incentive to get it right, writes Adam Creighton, a research fellow at The Centre For... Read More

US Congress swapped a crisis yesterday for a bigger crisis tomorrow

09 Aug 2011 | Crikey

I provoked a tirade of abuse from Crikey readers in the past fortnight when I suggested it would be preferable that the $14.3 trillion United States debt ceiling not be raised. Read More

Dollars must flow if numbers to grow

29 Jul 2011 | The Age

Debate about Australia's population is framed with national aggregates and ignores how local governments deal with increased population. Part of the reason Australians are averse to more people is because... Read More

Think local and give country towns the freedom to prosper or perish

23 Jul 2011 | The Australian

FOR politicians, and especially for town planners, letting people decide where and how they want to live has never been an acceptable idea. Administrative elites have always been convinced they know better... Read More

Local councils deserve a better financial deal

18 Jul 2011 | The Canberra Times

Council rates surging to pay for new residents Read More

Stop pricing young workers out of the labour force

10 Jun 2011 | The Dominion Post

Minimum wages hurt employment prospects for the people they're intended to help. Read More

The myth of green jobs is leading to industrial decline

05 Mar 2011 | The Australian

A German study shows that renewable energy will not boost employment. Read More

Disability payment should not be de facto dole

Jessica Brown | 09 Nov 2010 | The Australian

Our welfare system should not assume that disabled people can't be in paid employment. Read More

Equal help for home and working mums

Jessica Brown | 28 May 2010 | The Australian

A new parental leave scheme should not be based around the kind of work their mothers do or don't do. Instead, it should be designed around the needs of newborns. Read More

Migrants add to growth hopes

Stephen Kirchner | 26 Apr 2010 | The Canberra Times

There is a mistaken view that population growth and immigration policy should be conditioned on existing capacity constraints, argues Stephen Kirchner in The Canberra Times, 26 April 2010. Read More

Research key to balancing pay equity with jobs growth

Ian Harper | 30 Dec 2009 | The Age

The Australian Fair Pay Commission's final decision on minimum wages needed to draw more broadly on research, consultations and submissions and rely less on formal procedures of a forensic nature. Read More

Protect us from protectionism: keep the doors open

Greg Lindsay | 08 Nov 2009 | The Sunday Age

In his recent address to the Australia China Business Council, China's Vice-Premier Li Keqiang expressed his deep desire for a Sino-Australian free trade agreement. This is an encouraging sign, as free... Read More

Publications

TARGET30: Reducing the burden for future generations

David Murray AO, Maurice Newman, Simon Cowan | 01 Jul 2013 | Policy Forum

TARGET30 is a campaign promoting smaller government and cutting government spending to less than 30% of GDP in the next 10... Read More...
Relics of a Byzantine IR System: Why Awards Should Be Abolished

Alexander Philipatos | 23 May 2013 | Issue Analysis

Awards are uniquely Australian, and practically as old as the country itself. But in Australia’s modern, competitive economy,... Read More...
Australia and the Asian Ascendancy: Why Upskilling is Not Necessary to Reap the Rewards

Benjamin Herscovitch | 19 Feb 2013 | Issue Analysis

Government programs to upskill the Australian workforce for the Asian Century are a solution to a non-problem. With more... Read More...
Back to the Bad Old Days? Industrial Relations Reform in Australia

Alexander Philipatos | 06 Dec 2012 | Policy Monographs

Has the Fair Work Act thrown industrial relations back to ‘the bad old days?’ This report analyses the changes in industrial... Read More...
Overcoming a Culture of Low Expectations

Jessica Brown | 28 Mar 2012 | Issue Analysis

The most important thing we can do to encourage disadvantaged Australians into work – including people with disabilities,... Read More...

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