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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?

The Most Consequential Budget of our Generation
Simon Cowan, Stephen Kirchner, Emma Dawson, Danielle WoodOctober 7, 2020

On April 16, Prime Minister Morrison signaled that after the immediate pandemic-induced crisis, a market-oriented...

Extra infrastructure spending won’t build a road out of the corona recession
Tony MakinSeptember 1, 2020Spectator

Increased government spending on infrastructure has been proposed yet again to revive the economy from...

How to fix super
Simon Cowan, Andrew Bragg, James PawlukJuly 29, 2020

If there is one thing that almost everyone agrees on, it is that not everything...

The ? recovery
Robert CarlingJuly 10, 2020Ideas@theCentre

Living standards, livelihoods and business survival are at stake as the pandemic — and government...

Resuscitate near-flatline economy
Jeff Bennett, Tony Makin, Michael PotterJuly 10, 2020Ideas@theCentre

The performance of the economy was weak before Covid-19, and now it is perilously close...

Call time on emergency measures
Glenn FaheyJuly 3, 2020Ideas@theCentre

There’s a time and place for emergency income support through the pandemic. But the usefulness...

Australia’s Future Fiscal Shock
Robert CarlingSeptember 28, 2012IA134

Australia’s Future Fiscal Shock. Robert Carling is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Independent...

Australia’s Asia Literacy Non-Problem
Benjamin HerscovitchSeptember 5, 2012IA133

New large-scale Asia literacy programs are not necessary for Australia to prosper in the Asian...

Indigenous Education 2012
Helen Hughes, Mark HughesJune 27, 2012PM129

In 2008, governments reduced their Indigenous literacy and numeracy target from ‘fix the problem in...

The Condensed Wealth of Nations and The Incredibly Condensed Theory of Moral Sentiments
Eamonn ButlerJune 12, 2012OP126

Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations is one of the most important books ever written....

The Henry Tax Review: A Liberal Critique
March 14, 2012IA130

The public release of Australia’s Future Tax System—known as the Henry review—in May 2010 sparked...

A Waste of Energy: Why The Clean Energy Finance Corporation is redundant
Oliver Marc HartwichMarch 1, 2012PM129

The federal government’s plans to establish a Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) should be scrapped....

Alarm bells ringing on more interest rate pain
Michael StutchburyMarch 18, 2026DAILY TELEGRAPH
Australians were losing faith that the combination of Labor’s economic policies and the RBA monetary...
Blame diagnostic inflation for the NDIS’ $10b Autism bill
Steven SchwartzMarch 5, 2026AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW

As recently reported in The Australian Financial Review, autism costs the National Disability Insurance Scheme...

The RBA had no choice but to tighten the screws
Robert Carling, Michael StutchburyFebruary 6, 2026THE CANBERRA TIMES
The government has been rightly blamed for fuelling the inflation flames with too rapid growth...
The only things going up now are the prices
Robert CarlingFebruary 3, 2026DAILY TELEGRAPH
The decisions that made higher rates unavoidable were taken in Canberra. If inflation is the...
Economic exceptionalism is dead – and rate cuts died with it
Michael StutchburyJanuary 31, 2026AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW
Jim Chalmers doesn’t have a central bank governor to blame for his forward misguidance or...
Tip from a friend: Australia’s economy is in a slow race to ruin
Michael StutchburyNovember 29, 2025THE AUSTRALIAN
Sometimes it takes outsiders to say the obvious but unwelcome things: high spending, low growth...
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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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