Become a Member Donate Now

• Government Spending

Governments spend taxpayers’ money on a wide range of programmes from education to defence and from welfare to infrastructure. Yet there can be too much of a good thing, and some government spending is just wasteful. How can we ensure that taxpayers are getting value for money?

Knowledge is a costly affair
July 3, 2001The Australian Financial Review

The Knowledge Nation Taskforce’s comprehensive agenda for upskilling Australia was widely welcomed yesterday. But the...

Stop Subsidising a Failure
August 9, 2000The Australian Financial Review

John Quiggin is a well- known microeconomic reform sceptic, and in these pages last week...

Reconnecting Compassion and Charity
Roger KerrJanuary 1, 1999OP67

Supporters of big government and the welfare state regularly accuse their opponents of lacking ‘compassion’....

The Welfare State: Foundations and Alternatives
Michael JamesMarch 1, 1989PF7

The central question for public policy in the 1990s is whether the state should retain...

Social Welfare: The Changing Debate
David GreenMay 5, 1988OP20

The Centre for Independent Studies Social Welfare Program has commissioned studies by qualified economists and...

Restraining Leviathan: Small Government in Practice
Michael James, Hugh Collins, J.J. Pincus, Patrick Minford, Cliff Walsh, Peter Swan AO, A.J. Moran, Ian Harper, Wolfgang Kasper, Chris Trengove, Keith Trace, Peter Forsyth, Scott Prasser, John D. Craig, James Cox, Robin O'Hair, Geoffrey Brennan, George WintertonOctober 1, 1987PF6

Foreword This collection seeks to increase our understanding of the scope and opportunities we have...

Keeping Budgets on the Rails: Rules for Fiscal Responsibility
Robert CarlingNovember 13, 2025AP94

Executive Summary Fiscal rules are numerical limits to one or more of government spending, revenue,...

An economic walk on the supply side
Michael StutchburyOctober 16, 2025OP208

This is an edited version of Michael Stutchbury’s keynote address to the 2025 Freedom to...

Addressing Australia’s Productivity Problem. CORE Blueprint to Unshackle Productivity
Jim CoxAugust 14, 2025AP86

Introduction There is no one action that will lift Australia’s dwindling productivity growth; it is...

The Productivity Problem. Australia’s Growth Slump Is Undermining Prosperity
Jim CoxAugust 7, 2025AP85

Executive summary Concern over Australia’s slow rate of productivity growth is justified as it is...

Leviathan on the Rampage: Government spending growth a threat to Australia’s economic future
Robert CarlingJuly 23, 2025AP84

Executive summary The rising trend of government expenditure in Australia has long been present but...

hurdles
Economic challenges ahead for the government
Robert Carling, Gene Tunny, Peter TulipJune 19, 2025IA153

The re-elected federal government faces a long list of economic challenges, some of them created...

Making things worse
John HumphreysMay 11, 2009Business Spectator

There is an ongoing debate about whether the government’s spending spree is going to work...

Paid Maternity Leave and the Global Financial Crisis
April 10, 2009

Paid maternity leave was a high profile election promise of the Rudd government, but with...

Lost in numbers
Oliver Marc HartwichApril 10, 2009

Imagine a journey of nine trillion four hundred sixty billion seven hundred thirty million four...

More Stimulating than a Big Bang
Geoff HogbinMarch 20, 2009

It’s not rocket science. If you tax employment you can expect to get less of...

Housing finance hardly an effective indicator of fiscal policy success
Stephen KirchnerMarch 20, 2009

The recent surge in housing finance commitments has been cited as evidence for the effectiveness...

Homeownership for remote Indigenous communities
Sara HudsonMarch 6, 2009

As part of the ‘Apology to the Stolen Generation,’ the Rudd government promised to spend...

No Videos Available
Submission to the Independent Review of the Australian Public Service
Simon Cowan, Eugenie JosephAugust 1, 2018
Submission to the National Commission of Audit
Alexander Philipatos, Jennifer Buckingham OAM, Jeremy Sammut, Robert Carling, Simon Cowan, Stephen Kirchner, Trisha JhaApril 1, 2014T30.08

The federal government’s Commission of Audit (CoA) was established in 2013 to review the performance...

Submission to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee into the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill 2012
Andrew BakerJanuary 25, 2013

Submission to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee into the National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill...

Submission to the COAG Select Council on Disability Reform on NDIS ‘eligibility and reasonable and necessary support’ criteria
Andrew BakerSeptember 10, 2012

Submission to the COAG Select Council on Disability Reform on NDIS ‘eligibility and reasonable and...

Submission to Native Title Leading Practice Agreements Discussion Paper 2010
Helen Hughes, Mark Hughes, Sara HudsonNovember 30, 2010

The Native Title process is only one of the processes returning land to traditional owners....

No Podcasts Available

• Subscribe

Subscribe now and stay in the loop with our giving appeals, event alerts, newsletters and research updates.

We are always pleased to hear from you. If you have any questions or feedback, please contact us here:

+61 2 9438 4377
CIS Office
cis@cis.org.au
CIS Media
kpincott@cis.org.au