Data is emerging as the major driver of innovation in countries like Australia and it's important governments begin to regulate it to avoid loss of public trust, says the outgoing chair of the Productivity Commission. Read More
Concerned that partisans are cherrypicking the data on inequality, the Productivity Commission has waded into the debate, urging a refocus on persistent disadvantage instead. Read More
Former Productivity Commission member Nicholas Gruen says the debate over giving citizens access to government super is getting the five-minute argument, and it's still too politically complicated to contemplate government entities competing in an open market. Read More
Michael Brennan has both public service and political staffer credentials, having also served as a deputy secretary for the Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance, as well as staffer to former finance minister Nick Minchin and former Victorian treasurer Kim Wells. Read More
Young people entering the workforce should choose their own superannuation fund, rather than the present system of their employer selecting the fund for them, according to a Productivity Commission report released on Tuesday. Read More
The government’s proposal does not make data more open. It encourages us to consent to vast exposure of our personal information, including to those who may later use it against us -- with or without de-identification measures. Read More
This week's aged care reform continues the tradition of federal governments tinkering at the edges of the heavily regulated and mostly taxpayer-funded sector, but putting off a major overhaul of its old-fashioned funding model. Read More
The co-op is a good operating structure for human services, according to Melina Morrison, chief executive of a peak body for the sector. Having more of them would increase choice and competition for users of these publicly funded services, she argues, if barriers to setting them up are addressed. Read More
Giving users of human services like public housing and end-of-life care greater ability to choose will lead to better service quality, argues the Productivity Commission in a report released on Monday. Read More
In the wake of the government's open banking decision, Nic Dillon warns of the privacy pitfalls. Read More
How many economists does it take to change a light bulb? It depends how you value the change. Read More
Part two of Nicholas Gruen's exploration of how central banks use their statutory independence. For decades the "people's bank" was only accessible to the banking elite, and profits flowed accordingly, then came digital. Read More
As the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians shows signs of widening, urgent action is needed to address our national shame say the co-chairs of the Close The Gap Campaign. Read More
This is an edited extract of a speech by the inaugural Victorian information commissioner, Sven Bluemmel, at a conference on privacy and freedom of information hosted by the Leo Cussen Centre for Law on November 30, 2017. Read More
Safety and quality regulation won't be enough for the NDIS to work as intended; government needs to play an active market stewardship role as well. Researchers Gemma Carey and Eleanor Malbon are exploring what that means. Read More
