We congratulate the NSW Government for establishing the Great Koala National Park, which will protect a nationally significant koala population. (more…)
Category: Economy
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Best of 2025 – Disengaging from the dangerous alliance
When, in the course of close — some would say politically intimate — relations between allies, the dominant partner demands that the subordinate partner betray its democratic principles as a cost of receiving favourable treatment, the time has come to terminate the relationship. Such is now the state of the Australia-US alliance. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – Government is planning hardship for older Australians living at home
Aged care has again been in the media for all the wrong reasons. Two failures are attracting particular attention. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – What game is he playing? The PM and AUKUS
As the Australian prime minister prepares for his visit to the UN in New York next week, Robert Macklin looks into what Anthony Albanese might be hoping for on the trilateral security deal. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – Blaming China won’t keep the lights on – or pay the power bill
Sky News is back on the beat with a familiar headline: “The $20,000-per-person climate tax: Cost of Australia’s green agenda to become astonishingly clear this week when new emissions targets are set.” (more…)
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Best of 2025 – A smart productivity play: Stop subsidising loss-making native forest logging
On 7 September 2025, NSW set the proposed 476,000-hectare boundary for the Great Koala National Park and halted native-forest logging within it (plantation harvesting continues), with formal gazettal slated for 2026. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – Intergenerational equity and tax reform
Much of the discussion about the need for tax reform to preserve intergenerational equity is confused. The main challenges facing young people, in particular, are the limitations on the supply of housing and climate change. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – Labor says its second term will be about productivity reform. These ideas could help shift the dial
In his victory speech, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese highlighted social policy as a major factor in Labor’s electoral success, particularly Medicare, housing and cost-of-living relief. He was justified in doing so. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – An economic reform agenda for Labor
The recent election was won by looking ahead. But a better economic future requires an economic reform agenda, and getting agreement will not be easy. However, there are encouraging signs that the government is up to the task. (more…)
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Best of 2025 – Who’s afraid of big, bad China?
Be afraid, be very afraid. But not of China. To the contrary, the proper management of co-operative relations with China is essential to Australia’s future. (more…)
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Shrinking East Asia needs a safety net
East Asia has led the global recovery since the pandemic, but deep welfare imbalances are now threatening the sustainability of its growth model. (more…)
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MYEFO leaves the hard work on inflation, debt and budget repair undone
The latest MYEFO shows only marginal improvement in the budget outlook, while deficits persist and fiscal settings continue to complicate the Reserve Bank’s task. (more…)
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Why Australia’s pro-globalisation consensus endures
Australia’s post-pandemic politics may look more divided, but fears of a rising populist backlash are overstated. Demographics, institutions and economic geography still anchor the nation’s long-standing consensus in favour of openness, migration and global integration. (more…)
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Western Australia is rich, but it’s not the economic powerhouse it claims to be
Western Australian politicians claim the state is the “powerhouse” of the national economy and deserves an outsized share of GST revenue. The ABS State Accounts for 2024–25 tell a different story, revealing a decade of weak growth, falling per capita output and a system that rewards WA despite clear under-performance. (more…)
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Senate committee on disinformation should look into the Liberals’ energy policy: It is full of it
The Liberal Party’s new energy policy recycles discredited claims and fossil fuel talking points, undermining public trust and delaying the essential task of real action.
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Five reasons Trump’s economy stinks and 10 things the Dems should do about It
The Trump economy is truly awful for most Americans. Democrats need to show America that they can be better trusted to bring prices down and real wages up. (more…)
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Migration myths
Migrants aren’t to blame for expensive houses or stress on infrastructure: in fact they’re making more contribution to our shared assets than Australians. (more…)
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‘A national humiliation’: Australia at bottom of new renewables ranking
As the Coalition abandons net zero, Andrew Forrest has quietly moved on not just to net zero, but to real zero. (more…)
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China planning ahead with 15th five-year plan
In business, the five Ps are often referenced: “Poor preparation prevents proper performance.” That extends to planning a national economy. (more…)
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Arms industry infiltrates National Press Club
More than a quarter of the National Press Club’s sponsors are part of the global arms industry or working on its behalf. (more…)
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To fix the economy, fix housing
Australia’s economy is in a post-pandemic slump. To dig us out, state and federal governments must tackle the chronic shortage of housing in our biggest cities. (more…)
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Computer still says no to Queenslanders wearing seatbelts
The ACT Government has just announced that from 3 November, “ACT traffic cameras will detect and issue infringements for seatbelt offences”. (more…)
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The new political economy of innovation: Why Australian policymakers need better tools
When the Commonwealth Government reorganised its innovation responsibilities for the fourth time in a decade, public servants made jokes about updating their email signatures again. (more…)
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Practical, equitable … cute? Labor’s free solar plan sparks call for more electrification and flexibility
The federal energy minister’s plan to make electricity free for three hours in the middle of each day for customers on the default market offer has made a big splash in the energy world, and sparked calls for more electrification and demand flexibility. (more…)
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In memoriam: The slow death of the Quad
Quietly, but surely, life is ebbing away from the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the Quad). (more…)
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A United States that is disintegrating and no longer a leader in Asia
The second Trump administration has transformed US foreign policy, with immediate implications for economic and security ties with Asia and long-term implications for regional and global order. (more…)
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A dangerous trifecta
Amid the world’s many troubles is the growing possibility of a combination of the bursting of a bubble, a major government and corporate debt crisis and the possibility that a popular investment strategy — lifecycle investing or borrowing to invest — will all implode at the same time. (more…)
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Fatal flaws: what regional Australians need to know about cash plan
There are fatal flaws in the federal government’s draft cash mandate regulations and they can be traced back to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s refusal to respond to Senate recommendations to fix the banking crisis in regional Australia. (more…)
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Taking from the young, giving to the old: How our tax system is letting us down
Australians are retiring with unprecedented levels of wealth. This wealth, which is primarily held in housing, investment properties and superannuation, allows retirees to draw incomes to support their retirement. (more…)
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‘Forget subsidies’: Solar-battery hybrids can deliver ‘incredibly competitive’ power for big industry
The developer of what stands to be Australia’s biggest battery says the new breed of hybrid solar and storage projects, starting to dominate the national renewables pipeline, can power new and existing industrial energy needs at an “incredibly competitive” cost – and without government handouts. (more…)