Issue Analysis
Issue Analysis (IA) are shorter publications that deal with controversial and current issues.
Categories
Poor Laws (3) How to Reform the Award System and Create More Jobs
Despite the hype about enterprise bargaining and the individualisation of employment arrangements since the early 1990s, the award system continues to play a significant role in Australia’s industrial...... Read More
How To Reduce Long Term Unemployment
More than half the people claiming unemployment allowances in Australia have been on benefits for more than a year. Introducing a six-month time limit on unemployment benefits could dramatically reduce...... Read More
Reforming Divorce Law
Marriage has evolved from a relatively stable bond to a highly uncertain one. High divorce rates, the substitution of cohabitation for marriage, later ages at marriage, falling fertility, and the ill effects...... Read More
The Beat Goes On: Policing for Crime Prevention
A visible police presence in the community and increased police resources must form a key part of a crime prevention strategy in Australia. Australian policymakers and police should take note of the successful...... Read More
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: Dr Nelson Mixes Price Flexibility and Rigid Quotas
Education Minister Dr Brendan Nelson’s proposed reforms of higher education will improve the quality of Australian higher education through increased investment and competition for fee-paying students....... Read More
The Tender Trap: Reducing Long-Term Welfare Dependency by Reforming the Parenting Payment System
Moving single parents whose children are at school off welfare and into work is a key component of a broader strategy to eradicate poverty since joblessness is the biggest cause of poverty. It is essential...... Read More
Is the ‘Earnings Credit’ the Best Way to Cut the Dole Queues?
The 'earnings credit' proposed by the 'Five Economists' in 1998 will not sufficiently decrease joblessness in Australia, and may in fact encourage welfare dependency. The 'earnings credit' – a tax break...... Read More
Michael in a Muddle: Michael Pusey’s Bungled Attack on Economic Reform
Andrew Norton reveals many serious errors of fact and logic in his detailed critique of Michael Pusey's new book, The Experience of Middle Australia: The Dark Side of Economic Reform. The main thrust of...... Read More
Aid Has Failed the Pacific
The Pacific islands are an arc of instability threatening Australia’s security. While current problems are of considerable strategic concern to Australia, the principal victims are the people of the...... Read More
Student Debt: A HECS on Fertility?
Opponents of university fees are tapping into concern about declining fertility levels by arguing that there may be a link between student debt and fewer births.... Read More
Reflections on Class Size and Teacher Quality
The statistical evidence showing that boys have lower literacy levels and lower average performance than girls in almost all school subjects is overwhelming. Boys in New Zealand’s schools are disadvantaged...... Read More
The Thinning Blue Line
The likelihood that a criminal will be caught after committing an offence is an important deterrent for potential offenders. However, on average across Australia, the number of police has not increased...... Read More
Papua New Guinea on the Brink
Papua New Guinea shows every sign of following its Melanesian neighbour, the Solomon Islands, down the path to economic decline, government collapse and social despair. Potential flashpoints further afield...... Read More
The Missing Links: Class Size, Discipline, Inclusion and Teacher Quality
The Vinson Report is let down by a lack of rigour and an apparent partiality in its analysis of reforms that have important implications, such as class size.... Read More
Poor Laws (2): The Minimum Wage and Unemployment
More than half the poor in Australia are unemployed. It is joblessness, not low-paid jobs, that is the biggest source of poverty in Australia. Given that the risk of being poor is far greater for those...... Read More
Getting it Right Some of the Time: An Appraisal of the Report on the Inquiry into the Education of Boys
The 2002 parliamentary inquiry and report into the education of boys has failed to recognise that boys from single parent families are more at risk of underperforming at school.... Read More
Poor Laws (1): The Unfair Dismissal Laws and Long-term Unemployment
Unfair dismissal laws stifle job creation and compound Australia’s high unemployment problem. Despite a near-decade of strong economic growth, Australia’s unemployment remains persistent and our record...... Read More
Whose Progress? A Response to the ABS Report Measuring Australia’s Progress
The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ recent report, Measuring Australia’s Progress, threatens to compromise the political neutrality of the ABS, for it blurs the line dividing fact from opinion.... Read More
Families, Fertility and Maternity Leave
Sound family policy is being side-tracked by the concentration on the role of maternity leave in raising the fertility rate. Falling fertility is a genuine cause for concern, but it does not justify the...... Read More
Poor Statistics: Getting the Facts Right About Poverty in Australia
Some welfare organisations suggest that poverty statistics are unimportant and that the CIS critique of the Smith Family’s figures was a distraction from the real business of tackling poverty. But the...... Read More
