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• 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?

Welfare Reform and Economic Development for Indigenous Communities
Noel PearsonOctober 25, 2005OP100

Noel Pearson’s lecture is to set out a case for a comprehensive reform agenda in...

Handouts won’t cure poverty
Wolfgang KasperOctober 11, 2005The Australian Financial Review

The Australian government has joined the turn-of-millennium drive to eliminate extreme Third World poverty a...

The Economics of Indigenous Deprivation and Proposals for Reform
Helen HughesSeptember 23, 2005IA63

The 450,000 Australian Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders who make up Australia’s Indigenous population fall...

The Free Market Case Against Voluntary Student Unionism (But for Voluntary Student Representation)
Andrew NortonAugust 31, 2005IA62

Introducing ‘voluntary student unionism’ (VSU) into Australia’s universities would do two things: It would make...

Six Arguments in Favour of Self-Funding
Peter SaundersJuly 14, 2005IA61

This report is the second in a series of three titled ‘Restoring Self-Reliance in Welfare.’...

The $85 Billion Tax/Welfare Churn
Peter SaundersApril 7, 2005IA57

This is the first of three papers in the series ‘Restoring Self-Reliance in Welfare’ analysing...

Australia’s Export Exposure to China’s Coronavirus Epidemic
Salvatore BabonesFebruary 18, 2020AP7

This paper estimates the direct and immediate effects of the coronavirus epidemic on the revenues...

Reform, Retreat and Relinquishment: Lessons from historic state ownership of businesses in NSW
Percy AllanSeptember 24, 2019PP23

In the 1980s and 90s, Australian governments agreed to an ambitious program of micro-economic reforms...

Millennials and Super: the case for voluntary superannuation
Simon CowanMay 28, 2019PP20
As a result of house prices increases, it has become much harder to save for...
Budget 2019: Why the long-term tax cuts should be fast-tracked
John HumphreysApril 4, 2019PP19

The centrepiece of the 2019/20 budget was a proposed doubling of the income tax cuts...

I, Mechanical Pencil: Why a socialist economy can never work
Steven KatesFebruary 6, 2019PP14

Socialism brings poverty and oppression. The ignorance of so many as to why only a...

Voting for a living: A shift in Australian politics from selling policies to buying votes?
Robert Carling, Terrence O’BrienSeptember 5, 2018PP9

This paper explores the hypothesis that growth of government has become self-sustaining through the emergence...

Labor’s path to joining the worst welfare states
Robert CarlingJuly 23, 2025AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW
Jim Chalmers’ economic reform roundtable must confront Australia’s entitlement mindset – which governments have fostered....
We’ve been here before. This time it’s serious
Greg LindsayJuly 16, 2025SPECTATOR

With the current Treasurer jumping on the tax reform bandwagon, assuring the public that reform...

Deficit a worry and right-wing governments aren’t going to fix it
Simon CowanJuly 12, 2025CANBERRA TIMES
The CIS has been warning about the risks of debt and deficits for some time....
productivity office work staff
Productivity stakes couldn’t be higher at roundtable
Gene TunnyJuly 4, 2025THE AUSTRALIAN
Productivity must trump politics in Labor’s second term...
NSW budget must be adult in the room on sensible spending
Gene TunnyJune 24, 2025AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW
The state’s debt levels remain high, with net debt currently around $110 billion and projected...
Old pastime of redistribution, regulation, reckless spending returns
Tom SwitzerMarch 31, 2025AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW
If you’re wondering why this election campaign does not have a clear frontrunner, the lack...
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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....

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