Issue Analysis
Issue Analysis (IA) are shorter publications that deal with controversial and current issues.
Categories
Towards a Red Tape Trading Scheme: Treating Excessive Bureaucracy as Just Another Kind of Pollution
Government should measure the regulatory costs on the Australian economy and consider a ‘cap and trade’ scheme to manage red tape.... Read More
Defeating Dependency: Moving Disability Support Pensioners Into Jobs
The focus of welfare reform efforts should be on encouraging some of the 750,000 existing disability support pensioners back into work.... Read More
On the Right Track: Why NSW Needs Business Class Rail
Rail connections between Sydney and neighbouring cities need to improve substantially and business class carriages would be a good first step. Jennifer Buckingham and Dr Oliver Marc Hartwich look past...... Read More
Fiscal Shock and Awe in the United States
The relative economic standing of the United States, and therefore its place in the world, may decline as other less mature economies advance. But the US fiscal problem has the potential to hasten the...... Read More
What’s Next for Welfare-to-Work?
When jobs are hard to find, the incentive for unemployed people to move to other welfare payments such as DSP grows. There is a real danger that rising unemployment could undo the recent gains in reducing...... Read More
Educating The Disadvantaged
Every child can succeed at school if education providers take the right approach. Educating the Disadvantaged, a collection of four essays, reveals the diverse stories of why some schools are failing...... Read More
KiwiRail: Doomed to Fail?
Government ownership cannot and will not ‘fix’ rail in New Zealand. Luke Malpass argues that one year after the renationalisation, it has become clear that the previous government’s justifications...... Read More
Diminishing Democracy: The Threat Posed by Political Expenditure Laws
Electoral law reforms nearing a Senate vote risk making political activists inadvertent lawbreakers, deterring financial supporters of Australia’s civil society, and creating unnecessary bureaucratic...... Read More
Emissions Tax: The Least Worst Option
The New Zealand government’s emissions trading system, due to come into force in 2010 for energy and 2013 for agriculture, is the wrong approach. An emissions tax linked with other tax cuts would be...... Read More
In Defence of Non-Government Schools
Non-government schools are providers of public education and deserve adequate public funding. The purposes and functions of public education – academic, social and civic – are carried out in independent...... Read More
The Folly of Criminalising Cartels
The federal government's proposal to introduce a maximum jail term of 10 years for individuals found guilty of serious cartel conduct because it thinks that existing civil penalties alone cannot adequately...... Read More
Indigenous Participation in University Education
The government’s use of race-based ‘average’ educational performance measures denigrates Indigenous achievement, ignoring the achievements of the 24,000 Indigenous university graduates in Australia. In...... Read More
Ending No. 8 Wire Welfare: Why New Zealand is Lagging Behind
The government’s welfare policy is moving in the right direction and a recession is a good time to reform the welfare system. Introducing more rigorous work-first policies is important in a recession...... Read More
With No Particular Place To Go: The Federal Government's Ill-conceived Support for the Australian Car Industry
With the US car manufacturing industry faltering further, the Rudd government’s massive taxpayer-funded support for the Australian car industry is doomed to fail. It would be better to phase out assistance...... Read More
In Defence of Civil Society: The Virtue of Prescribed Private Funds
The Commonwealth government is looking to change the rules governing charitable funds which may harm philanthropic giving and consequently, undermine civil society. Given the current economic climate,...... Read More
Are We All Keynesians Again?
The revival of activist fiscal policy ought to be highly controversial because the 1970s and 1980s saw a new consensus emerge that it was ineffective or even damaging. The lessons from that era remain...... Read More
Fixing Prices: Why Vouchers Won't Work While Governments Set Fees
The Bradley report is another chapter in the long story of pricing neglect in higher education. The report should have gone further to solve the financial problems of underfunded universities by deregulating...... Read More
Beyond Symbolism: Finding a Place for Local Government in Australia's Constitution
Local governments could provide better services, like schools and fast development approvals if they received a higher proportion of tax revenue and a formal definition in the Constitution.... Read More
Making the Grade: School Report Cards and League Tables
International research shows that students in schools that publish their results publicly perform better than students in schools that do not. It is time for Australian schools to be accountable too.... Read More
Million Dollar Babies: Paid Parental Leave and Family Policy Reform
Support for the introduction of paid parental leave has been so vocal that rather than being a means to an end, paid parental leave has become the end itself. Evidence-based policy has been sidelined...... Read More
