The Rights of International Students
24 January 2012 | Publication | Higher Education
Public hospitals refusing to admit pregnant international students. Government schools charging fees to the children of international students. International students having to pay full public transport fares. These international student entitlement issues made the news last year. They are all aspects of a much bigger issue: what rights and entitlements should be available to non-citizens with long-term but temporary residence rights?
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The Right Way to Value Solar
21 December 2011 | Publication | Energy
Now is the time to resolve confusion about the value of solar power, "grid parity" and the role of support mechanisms for solar PV. How do we decide what solar PV is worth? What does this mean for feed-in tariffs and the concept of grid parity?
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The Future of Gas Power
15 December 2011 | Publication | Energy
The past few years have seen the rapid expansion of the coal seam and shale gas industry. Combine this expansion with the recent introduction of a price on carbon here in Australia, and you end up with a bunch of intriguing questions.
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Subsidy review plan neither fair nor enticing.
14 December 2011 | Publication | Higher Education
The latest review of university funding has not come up with a convincing basis for allocating higher education tuition subsidies.
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Getting the housing we want
14 November 2011 | Publication | Cities
Grattan's new report, Getting the housing we want, proposes a new approach to city planning that allows our cities to grow while giving residents a real say in the future of their neighbourhoods.
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Filling the university information gap
8 November 2011 | Publication | Higher Education
The Ombudsman claims that international students are being admitted with inadequate English proficiency and sometimes passed when they should fail. More independent information on students' prospects and performance would help protect international students and their future employers.
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The Future of Transport in Australia
25 October 2011 | Event | Energy
This seminar looked at how Australians might get around in the low carbon cities of the future. Experts in research, policy and industry will explore the technologies that could be used to decarbonise the transport system and the realities of the challenges associated with bringing these online.
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The Tax Reform Challenge
21 September 2011 | Publication | Productivity Growth
Adam Smith said that a good taxation system should be equitable between taxpayers, certain in its impact on each of them, simple to comply with and parsimonious in its administration costs. Sadly, the Australian tax system is none of these. In fact, if you hired a consultant to create a system that encouraged the accumulation of wealth through borrowing and speculating while penalising such accumulation through working and saving, he or she would hand you a copy of the Australian Tax Income Assessment Act. Change is desperately needed, but don't bet on it happening soon.
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The Resources Boom, Structural Change and 'Closing the Gap'
19 September 2011 | Publication | Productivity Growth
Australia is experiencing what may be the largest and longest commodities boom in its history. Through a sovereign wealth fund built on budget surpluses generated by the boom, we could tackle some of our most intractable problems, including the cost of an ageing population, the transition to a low-carbon economy and the stubborn reality of Indigenous disadvantage. We have an unprecedented opportunity. But do we have the foresight to take it?
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What Matters Most? - A Grattan Working Paper
19 September 2011 | Report | Cities
What Matters Most? shows that there are real differences in housing priorities across the population. In particular, while young families are focussed on house size and type, older and single-person households are much more likely to think that characteristics of where they live matter more. As the population ages and household size continues to decrease, these differences could result in significant shifts in the mix of housing we want.
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Inquiry Won't Stop a Changing World
19 September 2011 | Publication | Australian Overview
Governments shouldn't intervene whenever the world changes. With restructuring of the steel industry and economic changes in regional areas, government intervention can make things worse. In responding to the impact of the internet on newspapers, the recently announced media inquiry should consider if the best government response may be to do nothing at all.
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The University Gender Gap
6 September 2011 | Publication | Higher Education
Nearly 60% of university enrolments are women, who have improved their relative position in every year but one since 1957. What does this mean for the prospects of young men?
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A Predictable and Flexible Carbon Price?
2 September 2011 | Publication | Energy
There is inherent tension in emissions reduction policies: the desire for both freedom and predictability. Australia's proposed carbon pricing mechanism balances these competing objectives, giving a predictable framework for a flexible response - despite broader political tumult and uncertainty.
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Pricing Carbon - the Money and the Myths
1 September 2011 | Publication | Energy
The public debate is crowded with well-worn myths. But how does the proposed carbon pricing system actually work, and what happens next? What are the impacts for consumers and small businesses and what does all this mean for electricity?
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Pain of Carbon Protectionism
31 August 2011 | Publication | Energy
Claims for carbon price assistance signal a new era of protectionism. The federal government's climate change plan grants generous financial assistance to industries that claim the introduction of a price on carbon will hurt their business when they have to compete with overseas rivals that don't face the same cost.
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Economics of Pricing Carbon
30 August 2011 | Publication | Energy
There is an economic case for acting now as Australia is likely to be impacted more than most regions of the world, and Victoria more than most regions of Australia. The longer we wait, the more expensive it gets as emissions accumlate in the atmosphere.
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Accepting Underperformance
30 August 2011 | Publication | School Education
"We must sack underperforming teachers." It is something you hear regularly in school education, and is a popular topic for opinion writers and talkback radio. But it misses the point and adds to a longstanding unproductive debate. It jumps to the negative endpoint of teacher appraisal rather than taking an approach that improves student learning.
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Time Running out for Nuclear Option
17 August 2011 | Publication | Energy
Given lead times, Australia cannot count on a nuclear option towards its 2050 low-carbon electricity targets unless its politicians commit soon.
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Productivity - The Lost Decade
16 August 2011 | Publication | Productivity Growth
Australian workers increased their productivity far less in the past decade than in the previous one. They are also increasingly less productive than workers in most comparable countries. Since rising productivity is vital to a strong economy, the problem is serious, even if its consequences are not yet visible. Until recently the official account held that large investments in mining and utilities, and the lag time before they took effect, was driving declining productivity growth, but Grattan Institute research has shown that most industries are suffering the problem.
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Turn East and Learn from the World's Best
29 July 2011 | Publication | School Education
Across the country people are looking for ways to improve school education. But we don't have to look far to learn from the best in the world.
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Transparency in Trade Policy
19 July 2011 | Publication | Productivity Growth
When trade barriers are removed, the country removing the barrier often benefits most. All Australians have benefited from the Productivity Commission's role in persuading policy makers to remove Australia's trade barriers, often unilaterally. The Productivity Commission should also be given a role to review proposed trade agreements. Government fears that the Productivity Commission's "quantitative analysis can be highly misleading" are misplaced.
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Achieving Mitigation - Energy and Technology
13 July 2011 | Publication | Energy
The energy challenge is more about economics and public policy than technology. We need to create a policy framework that opens options.
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Higher Education Specialist Appointed to Key Post
11 July 2011 | News | Australian Perspectives
Grattan Institute is delighted to announce the appointment of Mr Andrew Norton as director of its Higher Education Program. This newly established Program, funded by The Myer Foundation, will analyse higher education policy issues, publish proposals for reform, and engage both the public and decision-makers in discussion.
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Climate Package: Grattan Institute Response
10 July 2011 | News | Energy
Grattan Institute welcomes today's release of the Federal Government's Climate Change Policy Package. Energy Program Director, Tony Wood said "The long awaited Climate Change Package moves in the right direction on many fronts. And it creates mechanisms to do better in future."
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The Housing We'd Choose - A Grattan Report
20 June 2011 | Publication | Cities
The report presents original research on the housing preferences of Australians. The housing they would choose was a much more varied mix than either Sydney or Melbourne currently provides.
The second part of the report examines recent construction trends and argues that there are barriers to delivering more of the housing people say they want.
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The Housing We'd Choose Report Launch
27 June 2011 | Event | Cities
Grattan Cities Program Director Jane-Frances Kelly in conversation with John Daley on the challenges to Australian cities and governments presented in The Housing We'd Choose.
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Investing in regions: Making a difference - A Grattan Report
24 May 2011 | Publication | Australian Perspectives
A new Grattan report, Investing in regions: Making a difference, shows that unless governments recognize the fast-changing reality of regional Australia, they will continue to both waste money and deprive many citizens of much-needed services.
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Trading Our Way to More Jobs and Prosperity
7 June 2011 | Event | Productivity Growth
In April, Trade Minister Craig Emerson released the Gillard Government's Trade Policy Statement: "Trading our way to more jobs and prosperity". This aims to put the pursuit of free trade at the heart of the Government's economic reform program. At this event, the Minister will outline the five principles of this policy, and discuss how sound trade policy and solid economic reform should work hand-in-hand.
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Better Teacher Appraisal and Feedback: Improving Performance
18 April 2011 | Report | School Education
A new system of teacher appraisal and feedback in Australia would improve teacher effectiveness, recognise our best educators and lift the outcomes of Australian students to the best in the world.
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Energy Specialist Appointed to Key Post
13 April 2011 | News | Energy
Grattan Institute is delighted to announce the appointment of Mr Tony Wood as director of its Energy Program. Mr Wood will commence this role early May.
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Learning the hard way: Australia's policies to reduce emissions
7 April 2011 | Report | Energy
Because Australian governments have introduced more than 300 programs to tackle climate change since Australia signed the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, we can assess the evidence of what works and what does not in reducing carbon emissions. The evidence shows that what reduces emissions most effectively and cheaply is the creation of a market.
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Why Markets Can Best Cut Carbon
29 March 2011 | Publication | Energy
There is no magic pudding in reducing carbon emissions. But a market-based approach and good policy design can bring long-term benefits to innovative firms and people and to the Australian economy.
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Asian Languages Matter
23 March 2011 | Publication | School Education
Continuing to neglect Asian languages in our education system we do at our peril. But by improving the quantity and quality of Asian literacy, our current weakness could become a competitive advantage.
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Carbon Emissions: subsidies, incentives or taxes - what makes effective policy?
30 March 2011 | Event | Energy
Australian governments, both State and Federal, have tried hundreds of policies and programs over the past decade to reduce carbon emissions in the energy sector. A new study by Grattan Institute launched at the seminar investigated their impact and identify the patterns.
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Grattan Careers - New Positions
21 March 2011 | News | Grattan Institute Careers
Grattan Institute is seeking applications for a number of new roles. Follow the link for further information.
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New Program for Grattan Institute
18 March 2011 | News | Australian Perspectives
Grattan Institute is launching a new program, supported by the Myer Foundation, to improve Australian higher education. The program will analyse higher education policy issues, publish proposals for reform, and engage both the public and decision-makers in discussion.
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My School 2.0 Step in the Right Direction
15 March 2011 | Publication | School Education
The new version of My School is an important step forward: it increases transparency and the information available. But the benefits are restricted if the measures of school performance are inaccurate.
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Need to Address Productivity Slump
8 March 2011 | Publication | Productivity Growth
A concerted effort to improve Australian productivity is needed now so that all of us can enjoy the higher living standards this brings.
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Finance Data to Help Teachers
4 March 2011 | Publication | School Education
The inclusion of school finance data on the My School website creates a new paradigm in school education in Australia and has changed the game for all schools. The new paradigm will demand changes at every level of school education and shift the focus to the drivers of performance.
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Groundhog Day in Climate Change Policy?
14 February 2011 | Publication | Energy
Prime Minister Julia Gillard suggested last week that when her government sets a carbon price, big carbon emitters are likely to receive the same level of compensation payouts they were promised under the Rudd government's failed emissions trading scheme. The Prime Minister should think again.
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Australia's Productivity Challenge
01 February 2011 | Publication | Productivity Growth
Australia's productivity performance deteriorated over the past decade, with the broadest measure of productivity growth going backwards over the past five years. A broad range of industries have slowed. In the long run this will impair Australian quality of living, and our ability to respond to everything from an ageing population to climate change.
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Congestion Charging for Roads
31 Jan 2011 | Publication | Australian Perspectives
John Daley spoke at a Roads Australia forum about the drivers for road pricing. He noted both the transport and economic benefits of reducing congestion through pricing and the need to win public acceptance by devoting much of the revenue to improve public transport.
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Let the Markets Lead the Way
15 December 2010 | Publication | Energy
Reviews of actual price and trading history compared to original forecasts, across six markets aimed at reducing pollution and promoting cleaner sources of energy in Australia, the United States and Europe, found that government and other experts consistently underestimated how much industry innovates and adapts. As a result government targets to reduce pollution were regularly achieved faster, and at lower cost than originally expected. It also finds that experts were routinely wrong in their predictions about which particular measures would be the lowest cost.
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Markets to Reduce Pollution: Cheaper than Expected
15 December 2010 | Publication | Energy
Grattan Institute finds that market driven technology innovation is the key to reducing carbon emissions. Experience shows that markets may not be perfect, but they are consistently effective at identifying lower cost opportunities, promoting innovation, and responding flexibly to changes.
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Emerging Economic Powers' School Students Setting Global Pace
10 December 2010 | Publication | School Education
There is now a greater and more urgent need to invest in reforms to improve school education across Australia. The performance of our 15-year-olds has significantly declined between 2000 and 2009, according to the latest results from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Program for International Student Assessment. Australia was one of only five countries to show a significant decline during this period.
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Australian Business Economists' Annual Forecasting Conference
8 December 2010 | Publication | Productivity Growth
Saul Eslake spoke at the Australian Business Economists' annual Forecasting Conference in Sydney on Wednesday 8 December. His presentation looked at why productivity matters in the current Australian context and what could be done to improve Australia's productivity performance.
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Summer Reading List for the Prime Minister
10 December 2010 | Publication | Australian Perspectives
As well as time to spend with family and friends, summer holidays are great for reflecting upon the year past, considering the year to come - and reading. Grattan has put together a selection of books we think the Prime Minister might find stimulating over the break.
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Betting on Nuclear Power
6 December 2010 | Publication | Energy
Australians are notorious for betting on two flies crawling up a wall. The emerging debate over nuclear power seems to be part of that tradition. We are punting on the cost of building power plants for delivery in 15 years time.
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Infrastructure Investment and Productivity - Address to the Economic Society
3 December 2010 | Publication | Productivity Growth
With Australia's productivity performance continuing to deteriorate, the nation needs to look at how to foster the next round of productivity growth. Grattan Institute's productivity growth program is investigating the reasons for this decline and various remedies for it, including enhancing the quantity and quality of Australia's stock of infrastructure, improvements to skills and vocational training, and the role of innovation.
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Nuclear Power in Context
17 November 2010 | Publication | Energy
Reducing Australia's carbon emissions requires a substantial shift in electricity generation. Acquiring options to roll out any one of a number of technologies is prudent given uncertainties about future technology. Nuclear is clearly a candidate, but it is just one horse in the field - there is no guarantee that it will finish first. On best guess assumptions, Australia cannot count on a nuclear option towards its 2050 low-carbon electricity targets unless its politicians commit soon to building capabilities and planning.
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Teach Teachers So Students Can Learn
15 November 2010 | Publication | School Education
Until we concentrate on enhancing the quality of our educators, there will be no significant improvement in our system. All Australians want to improve the quality of school education. This ensures our children and the next generation have successful lives. And there are growing concerns about how to prepare the economy for the end of the mining boom. Where will our new sources of economic growth come from? What will boost productivity and well-being?
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Wellbeing in Public Policy Practice
25 November 2010 | Event | Australian Perspectives
Around the world governments are recognising that there is more to life - and government - than GDP. The Australian Government Treasury has developed a "well-being" framework for evaluating policy and outcomes, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics has developed a project named "Measuring Australia's Progress". This is the last in a series of three seminars about social and environmental measures for public policy. The panel will discuss how well-being frameworks might develop in Australia, how they are already being used in practice, and how they might influence the future development of public policy.
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Effective performance management: the next challenge for our schools
23 November 2010 | Event | School Education
A new era of transparency will force considerable change in our schools. The My School website will soon include financial information for each school and more accurate measures of school performance. These changes will provide numerous strategic challenges and opportunities for school administrators, school boards and policy makers. The research shows that improving teacher effectiveness is the most successful way to confront these challenges. However, recent evidence highlights that both government and non-government schools are generally not effective in shaping their organisations to maximise teacher effectiveness and engage in successful teacher evaluation and development. Dr Ben Jensen, Director of the school education program at the Grattan Institute, will address these issues and present strategies for how schools can best confront these strategic challenges.
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Investing in Our Teachers, Investing in Our Economy
15 November 2010 | Publication | School Education
Improving teacher effectiveness would have a greater impact on economic growth than any other reform before Australian governments. The improvement in student learning could lift Australian students to the top of international performance tables.
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Understanding Australia's Productivity Performance - A Grattan Report
11 November 2010 | Event | Productivity Growth
The Nobel Prize-winning economist (and more recently New York Times columnist), Paul Krugman, famously described productivity as being "not everything, but in the long run nearly everything". At this event, Saul Eslake discussed Grattan Institute's Productivity Growth Program's first report, which examines how productivity growth is important to meeting several of Australia's more important economic challenges; a new perspective on the reasons for the marked deterioration in Australia's productivity growth performance over the past decade; and a preliminary look at some of the policy options for reversing that trend over the decade ahead.
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Broadband Won't Drive Regional Business Growth
28 October 201 | Publication | Australian Perspectives
There is a widespread belief that better broadband will drive regional growth. But the evidence suggests that, if anything, broadband will increase the incentives for businesses to set up in large cities rather than in the regions.
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The Social Life of Cities
8 November 2010 | Event | Cities
Thinking about social design for cities is lagging behind thinking on economic and environmental issues. Yet history has shown us that without design that takes account of social needs, built environments can easily lead to isolated individuals and communities. All over the world developments are being demolished only a few decades after they were built because of poor understanding of human needs and social design. Design has to incorporate an understanding of how people live, what makes them feel they belong, and the right balance of interaction and privacy. Geoff Mulgan discussed these issues
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Consultation Key to Successful Cities
20 October 2010 | Publication | Cities
Big decisions await Australia's cities. The news seems to be that if we want to face our hard decisions in a way that makes our cities better places to live, involving residents is not optional. Our research shows that simply creating a new governance structure for cities will not solve our problems, and our best bet is to give city-dwellers a real say.
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Resilient Cities
28 October 2010 | Event | Cities
Cities in Australia are facing a series of challenges, particularly relating to their next stages of growth. The Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES), based in Manchester, UK, helps cities and communities cope effectively with such challenges. CLES has recently laid out a "place resilience framework" - a partnership model for local government and other sectors to work together to develop a resilient economy. The framework has been piloted in 15 locations in the UK with fascinating results. At this Grattan seminar Neil discussed the findings of the CLES's resilience pilot, and suggest how Australian cities and places might prepare themselves better for upcoming challenges.
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Cities: Who Decides? - A Grattan Report
18 October 2010 | Publication | Cities
Grattan Institute's second Cities program report is "Cities: Who Decides?". The report investigates decision making in eight of the world's most successful cities, and asks what governance arrangements accompanied their broad-based improvement.
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Teachers Key to Learning
12 October 2010 | Publication | School Education
International evidence shows that important debates in Australia about school funding are generally misinformed, and that our focus should be on teacher quality rather than class size.
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Five Reforms to Improve School Education
25 September 2010 | Publication | School Education
Ben Jensen's article suggests five reforms that the new School Education Minister, Peter Garrett, could undertake to improve school education. These focus on methods to improve teacher quality as it is the key to improving schooling. A new approach to school funding is also advocated.
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A Hybrid Design for Carbon Pricing
4 October 2010 | Publication | Energy
Australia should adopt a hybrid design for carbon pricing that puts a floor and cap on the carbon price within the emissions trading scheme. This would actively manage the uncertainty around the cost of abatement and reduce the likelihood of ad-hoc government intervention.
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Our Health System Still Needs Change
25 September 2010 | Publication | Health
Australia, with its advanced economy, deserves health care of a high international standard. Since 1976 we have enjoyed free public hospital care and heavily subsidised access to doctors with good GPs and specialists readily accessible. Our public hospitals, have, however, repeatedly caused concern - for the States to meet ever increasing demand and growing costs, and for the public, repeated failure in quality or safety of services and lack of access to services when needed. If the devolution of hospital management in Australia was reviewed, we might begin to get worthwhile re-direction in our system.
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Australia's Productivity Performance
25 September 2010 | Publication | Productivity Growth
Saul Eslake's presentation to the Australian Treasury on Australia's productivity performance.
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Hybrid Scheme the Best of Both Worlds for Cutting Carbon
24 September 2010 | Publication | Energy
With a new Federal Government in place, political and policy attention has turned again to carbon pricing. We could have a tax, or a "cap and trade" scheme, but Tristan Edis and John Daley argue that a hybrid scheme would be the best solution. It would reduce business uncertainty, and reduce the costs of cutting carbon emissions. the only "danger" is that we might reduce our emissions by more than we planned, at a cost we are prepared to pay.
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A Blueprint for the Next Government
20 August 2010 | Publication | Australian Perspectives
Election campaigns are rarely about the tough decisions that will make a real difference to Australia's future. For the Commonwealth Government elected on 21 August, whoever that might be, taking principled but tough decisions that respond to the emerging challenges and endemic difficult problems will define the character of the government and their contribution to Australia's history. In an article published online in the National Times, John Daley reflects on what this might look like.
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Teacher Quality Key to Better Student Performance and Productivity
17 August 2010 | Publication | School Education
Better education is the most important single area to get right in public policy. Investing in the quality of teaching will provide greater returns to individuals and the economy than any initiative on the reform agenda today. It also has vital non-economic benefits such as contributing to wellbeing, health, social mobility and reduced crime rates. John Daley and Ben Jensen outline why Australia needs to develop an ambitious evidence-based education reform agenda.
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Putting a Price on Carbon
13 August 2010 | Publication | Energy
Unfortunately, Australian energy efficiency policy to date has been a series of grab-bag ideas, which have not been integrated into a considered and comprehensive strategy. In a three part article published online by the Climate Spectator, Tristan Edis explains why cold, hard statistical evidence suggests carbon pricing should be easy, and why politicians do not seem to believe this, and how we might be able to overcome this impasse.
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We Need More Doctors in the House
17 July 2010 | Publication | Health
In an article published in the Weekend Australia, David Penington discusses the need for health professionals to play a larger role in order to ensure real reform in Australian hospitals.
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More Bark Than Bite
22 July 2010 | Publication | Energy
Research suggests that Australia can afford to place a price on carbon, even without a comprehensive global treaty. In a PointCarbon article, John Daley and Tristan Edis look at how a price on carbon could impact Australia.
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No Action on Emissions is a Costly Option
15 July 2010 | Publication | Energy
The climate change debate is inevitably influenced by the desire to minimise short-term political pain. Clearly, reducing carbon emissions is not going to be painless. However, doing nothing is also going to be painful. And measures that minimise the short-term political pain are liable to substantially increase the long-term economic cost.
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The Cities We Need - A Grattan Report
28 June 2010 | Publication | Cities
This is the first report from our Cities Program, and aims to set an agenda for thinking about the future of Australia's cities. The report asks how our cities meet the individual needs of their residents, both material and psychological, and identifies emerging challenges to meeting these needs.
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A Liveable City
17 June 2010 | Publication | Cities
Melbourne often 'Tops the Pops' in the Most Liveable Cities of the World charts - but what don't those league tables look at? Jane-Frances Kelly and Helen Morrow explore the question of 'liveability' in an article published recently by the Victorian Council of Social Services.
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Australia's Health System is Ailing
25 May 2010 | Publication | Health
In every Western country, health costs are rising well ahead of the consumer price index. The recent COAG health reforms are insufficient to address Australia's ailing health system, writes David Penington.
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Mapping Social Cohesion: 2009 Scanlon Foundation Report
1 June 2010 | Event | Australian Perspectives
Grattan Institute hosted a discussion with Professor Markus to talk about the report's findings. The discussion focused on contemporary immigration and immigrants' experiences of connectedness, social justice, sense of belonging and worth.
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What Teachers Want: Better Teacher Management
24 May 2010 | Publication | School Education
Improving the quality of teachers and teaching should be a central goal of education policy. Evaluating the work of teachers and developing their teaching skills is a key part of improving the quality of teaching. However, an OECD survey reveals that teacher evaluation and development in Australia is poor and amongst the worst in the developed world.
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What Teachers Want: Better Teacher Management - A Grattan Report
25 May 2010 | Event | School Education
Grattan Institute released their second education report on Monday 24 May 2010. Dr Ben Jensen, Program Director School Education presented a seminar about the report's findings.
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Our Water Ways for UK
11 May 2010 | Publication | Australian Perspectives
Together with population growth, environmental change is imposing new challenges on the water sector. The impact is already clear in Australia, and as physical conditions change in the UK, Britain looks to Victoria's water management for lessons.
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The Australia of Tomorrow
10 May 2010 | Publication | Australian Perspectives
John Daley, CEO Grattan Institute, discussed 'The Australia of Tomorrow' when he delivered a keynote address at the Roads Australia Summit held in Sydney 22 - 23 April 2010.
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People, Pride and Purpose
13 May 2010 | Event | Cities
After decades of decline, Chicago, Glasgow and Manchester are experiencing a renaissance. Different cities have different stories to tell. However, three ingredients are common across all these cities; people, pride and purpose.
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Economic Returns to Education
6 May 2010 | Event | School Education
What are the links between education and productivity? With the Australian school education system currently going through a major reform, Grattan Institute hosted a seminar which discussed the relationship between education and economic returns. Will the proposed education reforms make a difference to Australian productivity?
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Restructuring the Australian Economy to Emit Less Carbon
22 April 2010 | Publication | Energy
Industry by industry analysis shows that an Australian carbon price will not result in widespread job losses or higher carbon emissions. Proposed free permits under the CPRS are expensive and will delay restructuring the Australian economy efficiently to emit less carbon.
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Water Competition: the UK Experience
3 May 2010 | Event | Australian Perspectives
Over the past decade, water restrictions have been imposed in many Australian cities. There have also been significant investments to augment supplies, which are coming on-line. With the immediate risks to water security abating, there is now an opportunity to explore how delivery of water services could be improved in the future.
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An Analysis of Victoria's Labour Productivity Performance
15 April 2010 | Publication | Productivity Growth
Saul Eslake addressed a seminar for Victorian public servants from the Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development, Treasury, Premier and Cabinet, and Planning and Community Development where he discussed An analysis of Victoria's labour productivity performance.
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Restructuring the Australian Economy to Emit Less Carbon - A Grattan Event
28 April 2010 | Event | Energy
Grattan Institute released its public report "Restructuring the Australian Economy to Emit Less Carbon" on Thursday 22 April 2010. Using a detailed analysis of Australian industries' own data, the report concludes the proposed free permits being offered by the Federal Government under its carbon pricing scheme are unnecessary. The report also shows that adapting to a carbon price is less difficult than the structural adjustments as a result of tariff reduction, competition policy reforms and the introduction of the GST. John Daley, Grattan Institute's Chief Executive Officer, presented a seminar on Wednesday 28 April, outlining the key findings of the report and discussed the implications for Australian policy making.
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NAPLAN Tests Help Champion Equality in the Classroom
15 April 2010 | Publication | School Education
The Australian Education Union needs to rethink its opposition to NAPLAN, the national testing program being introduced by the federal government.The union has confused the value of the tests with the problems that need to be addressed on the 'MySchool' web site.
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Carbon pricing - is a Tax Better than Emissions Trading?
25 March 2010 | Event | Energy
Grattan Institute hosted a seminar on energy policy, with special guest Dr Cameron Hepburn. This seminar provided an opportunity for detailed discussion about climate change policy around the world, and what it means for Australia. We discussed the economics of various options for designing carbon pricing schemes.
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Education Investment Better for Tasmanian Living Standards and Productivity
11 March 2010 | Publication | Productivity Growth
A sustained focus on year 12 retention rates and school performance is needed to lift Tasmanian living standards. Although Tasmanian's outcomes have improved over the last 10 years, Tasmania has significantly lagged the mainland for decades on living standards, life expectancy, long-term unemployment, and disadvantaged children. A fundamental cause is that Tasmanian productivity is significantly behind the mainland in most industries. Productivity could be substantially higher if Tasmania lifted year twelve retention rates and school performance to mainland levels, along with curriculum reform.
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In Defence of Liberty - A Grattan Seminar
11 March 2010 | Event | Australian Perspectives
The Hon. Joe Hockey MP, Shadow Treasurer, spoke at Grattan Institute on Thursday 11 March 2010. His speech 'In Defence of Liberty' pursued the theme that as a nation we have not struck the right balance between individual freedoms and collectivism. This will be an influential contribution to a core issue of our times.
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Measuring What Matters: Student Progress
8 February 2010 | Event | School Education
Grattan Institute is released its first public report "Measuring what matters: student progress" on Wednesday 27 January 2010, looking at the issue of measuring school performance. This issue is relevant to the Commonwealth government's launch of the "my school" website of school performance.
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Changing Social Needs and Innovative Ways to Meet Them
4 February 2010 | Event | Cities
Dr Geoff Mulgan, Director of the Young Foundation, is one of the world's leading experts on social and organisational innovation. Straight from ANZSOG, he gave a mid afternoon seminar for Grattan Institute, sharing his knowledge about social and organisational innovation, what it is and how to it can be applied in Australian cities. He discussed his current research on the changing social needs of society.
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Political Polarisation: Lessons from the United States
1 February 2010 | Event | Australian Perspectives
David Brady, Professor of Political Science and Leadership Values, and Deputy Director, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, will be beginning Grattan's 2010 events program, taking part in a Q and A seminar. His knowledge comes from a breadth of areas including public policy, women's movement and internet voting; making him well equipped to discuss political polarisation, and what Australia can learn from the United States.
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ABC Radio National on Grattan's Recommended Summer Reading List for the Prime Minister
10 December 2009 | Media Coverage | Australian Perspectives
Nothing marks out the true politician quite like the books they say they will be reading on the beach in summer.
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Australia-US Relationship and the President Partnership Agenda
9 December 2009 | Event | Australian Perspectives
Grattan Institute invites you to hear the new US Ambassador, Jeffrey L. Bleich, in his first public appearance in Melbourne. He discussed the Australia-US relationship, and how President Obama plans to strengthen it into the future.
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Governing Growing Cities
1 December 2009 | Event | Cities
Australia is famously one of the most urbanised countries in the world, with our cities producing the bulk of GDP and jobs. Today our cities are on the front line of responding to climate change, and are projected to significantly increase in size.
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The Pricing of Carbon Emissions and International Trade
5 November 2009 | Event | Energy
The United States, the European Union, and other developed nations, including Australia, are moving towards regimes to put a price on carbon emissions. Daniel Price addressed questions such as: Are shifts in location to avoid carbon emission costs likely?
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Ben Jensen joins Grattan Institute
17 September 2009 | Media Release | School Education
Ben Jensen joins Grattan Institute as Education Program Director.
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Trade Policy and Climate Change Policy: Some Inconvenient Truths
9 September 2009 | Event | Energy
The economic distortions associated with arbitrary allocations of free emissions permits to trade exposed industries in Australia is just one part of a global story. Without an effective international approach, this will contribute to a breakdown of the WTO based global trading system. Professor Garnaut discussed the problem and the way out.
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David Penington joins Grattan Institute
4 September 2009 | Media Release | Health
David Penington joins Grattan Institute as a Senior Fellow.
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Jane-Frances Kelly joins Grattan Institute
17 August 2009 | Media Release | Cities
Jane-Frances Kelly joins Grattan Institute as Cities Program Director.
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Saul Eslake joins Grattan Institute
30 July 2009 | Media Release | Productivity Growth
Saul Eslake joins Grattan Institute as Productivity Growth Program Director.
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Thomas E. Mann Visit, Brookings Institution
April 2009 | Event | Australian Perspectives
Prestigious US political commentator Thomas E. Mann was brought to Australia by the University of Melbourne as a 2009 Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellow and spoke at the launch of Grattan Institute in April 2009.
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Marius Kloppers joins Grattan Board
27 February 2009 | Media Release | Australian Perspectives
Marius Kloppers, CEO of BHP Biliton, has joined Grattan Institute's Board of Directors.
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