Issue Analysis
Issue Analysis (IA) are shorter publications that deal with controversial and current issues.
Categories
The HIV/AIDS Crisis in Papua New Guinea
The rapid spread of HIV/AIDS in Papua New Guinea has created a health emergency, with at least 120,000 Papua New Guineans likely to have HIV/AIDS. If present rising infection trends persist, 18% of the...... Read More
Teachers and the Waiting Game: Why Decentralisation is Vital for Public Schools
Centralised staffing systems, which fiercely protect regulations that shelter poor teachers and privilege longevity over performance, are in need of change so that teachers and principals are able to make...... Read More
A Welfare State for Those Who Want One, Opts-outs for Those Who Don't
A system of welfare state opt-outs will help increase people’s independence from government and reverse the unrelenting growth of public spending. Under the scheme, people who want to pay higher taxes...... Read More
Indigenous Governance At the Crossroads: The Way Forward
Under the current local government framework, there are too many layers of government in remote Indigenous communities, resulting in conflict between, and duplication of, administrative structures. It...... Read More
Time for a Change in Tonga: From Monarchy to Modernity
Despite years of generous aid and high education and health expenditure, Tonga has failed to grow substantially in the last 30 years. The royal family and the ‘nobility’ must accept responsibility...... Read More
Vision or Fiction? Prospects of Regional Integration in the South Pacific
Stephan Freitag discusses approaches to economic integration against the reality in trade and presents examples of sectoral integration and regional organisation to evaluate proposals for economic integration...... Read More
Why Tax Cuts Are Good for Growth
In the wake of the government’s $11 billion budget surplus, cutting taxes could deliver a significant boost to the economy. Many voters support tax cuts because it means more money in the pocket. However,...... Read More
How to Fix a Leaky Tax System
The New Zealand tax system has become complicated and unfair, and its integrity corroded by the introduction of a 39% tax rate for income over $60,000. Tax evasion and avoidance widespread are widespread...... Read More
Tackling Literacy in Remote Aboriginal Communities
Literacy rates among children and adults in remote Aboriginal communities are appallingly low, and cannot be reversed without genuine and innovative education reform.... Read More
School Autonomy: A Key Reform for Improving Indigenous Education
The government school model is failing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and urgently needs reform. School autonomy should be part of a comprehensive policy package to improve the long-term...... Read More
Are New Zealanders Paying Too Much Tax?
New Zealand is a highly taxed country on a global scale and has record budget surpluses. The past decade has seen huge increases in the government’s tax revenue and spending. In the 2006 Budget, the...... Read More
Family Relationship Centres: Why We Don’t Need Them
As part of a major overhaul of the Family Law Act, the Australian government plans to spend $200 million establishing a network of Family Relationship Centres. Despite good intentions, the Centres will...... Read More
Annals of Aid: Vanuatu and The United States Millenium Challenge Corporation
Without fundamental reforms in land tenure, Vanuatu cannot increase its output and productivity. Without a thoroughgoing reform of the way that bureaucrats deal with the private sector, there can be no...... Read More
HELPless: How the FEE-HELP Loans System Lets Students Down and How to Fix it
Three new loans schemes were introduced in 2005 to fix omissions in the HECS system, but a more realistic FEE-HELP loan cap needs to be implemented so FEE-HELP can achieve its stated objectives of reducing...... Read More
Make Poverty History: Tackle Corruption
The results of the latest international survey of corruption reveal huge international differences. Poor countries tend to be more corrupt than developed, affluent countries, mainly because of foreign...... Read More
Twenty Million Future Funds
The government’s claim that we need a Future Fund to pay for public servants’ superannuation is bogus. In fact, the Future Fund should be denationalised and the money distributed into individual savings...... Read More
Education and Learning in an Aboriginal Community
The principal reason why so many Aboriginal people are unable to find jobs is that children in remote areas, such as the Tiwi Islands, leave primary school without the skills that would enable them to...... Read More
Good Teachers Where They Are Needed
Allowing qualified professionals to become teachers through school-based education has the potential to reduce Australia’s ever-increasing shortage of teachers.... Read More
The Economics of Indigenous Deprivation and Proposals for Reform
For remote Indigenous communities to have productive employment opportunities with mainstream earnings, decent health outcomes, decent housing, and the same security and standards of living that other...... Read More
The Free Market Case Against Voluntary Student Unionism (But for Voluntary Student Representation)
The federal government plans to introduce ‘voluntary student unionism’ (VSU) into Australia’s universities by banning the current compulsory fee for non-academic services. However, market-based policies...... Read More
