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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?

Aunty’s future
Rebecca WeisserMarch 10, 2017Ideas@TheCentre

Aunty copped criticism this week for hiding its male stars as a way of celebrating...

Of lists undone: too hard or not trying?
Gary BanksMarch 6, 2017

With monetary and fiscal policy instruments overextended, reforms to enhance our economy’s supply-side performance have...

Do you have a right to a good job?
Simon CowanFebruary 24, 2017Ideas@TheCentre

Advocates for a universal basic income (UBI) often cite automation and the rise of part-time...

State spending report card: As good as it gets for NSW and bad news for WA
Robert CarlingFebruary 21, 2017Australian Financial Review

Budget season has arrived, with all its speculation and anticipation leading up to a date...

Report Card on state finances
Robert CarlingFebruary 19, 2017Media Release

If the states were a school class being marked on fiscal discipline and frugal government,...

Report Card on State Finances
Robert CarlingFebruary 19, 2017RR23

The Commonwealth government’s perilous financial position is well known, but the finances of state government...

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...

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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