Grattan Institute

Event podcast: At this Policy Pitch event, the panel looked at how current generations are faring in retirement, and what kind of retirement we can all expect in the future. They discussed the policy levers such as the Super Guarantee, superannuation draw-down rules, retirement ages, and the level and means testing of the Age Pension. And they explored the trade-offs that these involve for spending before retirement and for government budgets.

A conversation with School Education Fellow Julie Sonnemann. Following the release of the recommendations from the Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools, we ask what Gonski 2.0 has found, why it has received a cold reception among some in the industry and how the implementation of Gonski’s findings should be managed. Links to research discussed in this podcast: Goss, P., Sonnemann, J., Griffiths, K., and Chivers, C., 2016, Circuit breaker: a new compact for school funding, Grattan Institute: https://grattan.edu.au/report/circuit-breaker/

Event podcast: In this State of Affairs event, Julie Sonnemann, Grattan Institute School Education Fellow, along with a panel of leading policy thinkers explored: What is needed to lift educational outcomes at scale; what are the benefits, challenges and risks of Commonwealth interventions; and, where should the Commonwealth focus its efforts, and why?

A conversation with Higher Education Fellow, Ittima Cherastidtham. More than 50,000 students who started university in Australia this year will drop out. Part-time students are particularly at risk. Policy makers should do more to reduce the number of young people who leave university with nothing but debt and regret. Read the report: https://grattan.edu.au/report/dropping-out/

A conversation with Budget Policy and Institutional Reform Program Director, Danielle Wood and Australian Perspectives Fellow, Brendan Coates. The announcement of Labor’s plan to abolish refunds of unused imputation credits for retirees in late March sparked significant confusion in the media, and in turn many Australians, about the economic effects and who would actually pay. Danielle and Brendan cut through this debate and shed some light on exactly what this policy will mean and who it will impact. Links to research discussed in this podcast: Brendan Coates and Danielle Wood, The real story of Labor’s dividend imputation reforms, published by Inside Story, March 2018 https://grattan.edu.au/news/the-real-story-of-labors-dividend-imputation-reforms/ Daley, J., Coates, B., Young, W., and Parsonage, H., Age of entitlement: age-based tax breaks, 2016, Grattan Institute https://grattan.edu.au/report/age-of-entitlement/ Daley, J., Coates, B., Wood, D., and Parsonage, H., 2015, Super tax targeting, Grattan Ins

Event podcast: In this Policy Pitch event, Stephen Duckett, Health Program Director at Grattan Institute presented data on the costs of complication rates and potential new strategies to reduce adverse events. He was joined by Associate Professor Jill Sewell, chair of the Victorian Clinical Council and Dr Linda Swan, Chief Medical Officer for Medibank to discuss how strategies might work in the public and private sectors.

Event podcast: Electricity network costs continue to be an area of significant focus for consumers, government, regulators and media, as well as network businesses themselves. In some cases, claims have been made that network prices are paying for investments the value of which has since been questioned. Experts from Grattan Institute, Powerlink and the Melbourne Energy Institute debated and explored these challenges in this first of our Energy Future Series for 2018.

A conversation with Australian Perspectives Fellow, Brendan Coates. In early March, economists Ross Kendall and Peter Tulip from the Reserve Bank of Australia released The Effect of Zoning on Housing Prices. In this podcast, Brendan discusses the findings from the paper and the subsequent reactions to it. Links to research discussed in this podcast: Ross Kendall and Peter Tulip, The Effect of Zoning on Housing Prices, March 2018 https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/rdp/2018/pdf/rdp2018-03.pdf John Daley, Brendan Coates and Trent Wiltshire, RBA research shows that zoning restrictions are driving up housing prices, published in The Conversation, 8 March 2018 https://grattan.edu.au/news/rba-research-shows-that-zoning-restrictions-are-driving-up-housing-prices/

A conversation with Grattan Senior Associate, Kate Griffiths. State governments have spent up to $20 billion more than was needed on the electricity grid. Customers are paying up to $400 more for their power each year than they should. They should get a rebate, or governments should write down the value of the assets to reduce electricity bills.

A conversation with Budget Policy and Institutional Reform Program Director, Danielle Wood and Associate Carmela Chivers. Protest politics is on the rise in Australia, and the main cause is collapsing trust in politicians and the major parties. If the major parties and politicians want to rebuild trust with voters, they'll need to change the way they do politics. Read the report: https://grattan.edu.au/report/a-crisis-of-trust/

Event Recording: Innovation and Science Australia has just released its plan for Australia’s innovation, science and research system, Australia 2030: Prosperity through Innovation. How big is the opportunity for Australia? Who really benefits from rapid innovation? Should policymakers follow ISA’s recommendations? At this Policy Pitch event, a panel that included the authors of the report used these questions to form the basis for an engaging discussion on innovation policy.

A conversation with Australian Perspectives Fellow, Brendan Coates. Australia’s retirement income system is not working for the poorest Australians, who are disproportionately women. Australia has a persistent gender gap in retirement savings and incomes. This means that women, particularly single women, are at greater risk of poverty, housing stress and homelessness in retirement.

Event podcast: Innovation and Science Australia has just released its plan for Australia’s innovation, science and research system, Australia 2030: Prosperity through Innovation. How big is the opportunity for Australia? Who really benefits from rapid innovation? Should policymakers follow ISA’s recommendations? At this Forward Thinking event, a panel that included the authors of the report used these questions to form the basis for an engaging discussion on innovation policy

A conversation with Grattan CEO, John Daley and Australian Perspectives Fellow Brendan Coates about their latest report. Low interest rates, policy changes and restrictive planning have doubled house prices in 20 years. It's time for governments to open the gate to more housing and stem rising public anxiety about housing affordability.

Event podcast: in this Policy Pitch event, a panel of transport and infrastructure experts explored: How bad congestion is across Melbourne; at what point we should consider new strategies to manage congestion, including congestion pricing; and, if a government were to introduce congestion charging, what principles should guide the scheme.

Event podcast: In this Capital Ideas event, Dr Peter Goss, Grattan Institute School Education Program Director, hosted a panel of leading policy thinkers to explore what is needed to lift educational outcomes at scale, what are the benefits, challenges and risks of Commonwealth interventions and where should the Commonwealth focus its efforts, and why?

Event podcast: In this Forward Thinking event, a panel of experts will discussed if the demand driven system be restored. Its supporters argue that it increased access to higher education, fixed skills shortages caused by too few graduates, and encouraged innovation in teaching. Its detractors argue that admission standards fell, that we now have too many graduates, and that it cost taxpayers far too much.

A conversation with School Education Fellow, Julie Sonnemann. The Commonwealth should not use the extra money it is spending on schools as an excuse to intervene in school education. The danger is that the 'Gonski 2.0 Review' could be used as a platform for Commonwealth interventions that sound good, but don't actually help on the ground.

A conversation with School Education Program Director Pete Goss. The "gap" between Indigenous and other school students is even bigger than official figures show. Grattan research reveals that Year 9 Indigenous students in very remote areas are five years behind in numeracy, six years behind in reading, and seven-to-eight years behind in writing. Even in the cities and regions - where most Indigenous students live - the gap is three to four years by Year 9.

A conversation with Health Program Director, Stephen Duckett. One in nine patients who go into hospital suffers a complication, and the risk varies dramatically depending on the hospital. An extra 250,000 patients would leave hospital complication-free each year if all hospitals lifted their performance to match the best 10 per cent of hospitals. A Grattan Institute Report Podcast.