Grattan Institute

Some university students with low school results would be better off doing vocational education instead. Listen to Grattan Institute's Higher Education Program Director Andrew Norton discuss with Paul Austin when TAFE is a good alternative to university.

All Australians are spending more of their incomes on housing, but worsening affordability is hurting low-income earners the most. Almost half of low-income Australians in the private rental market suffer rental stress. It’s probably no coincidence that homelessness is rising. There is a powerful case for additional government support to help Australia’s most disadvantaged cope with high housing costs. Housing First policies have halved homelessness in countries like Finland. But not all policies are equally effective. So what should the Queensland State government and the Federal Government do to tackle these challenges? How should they target programs: should they focus just on social housing for those right at the bottom, or should they fund affordable housing for “key workers” in the inner city? How should additional support be delivered: as government funded development; as subsidies for developers; by imposing planning conditions for new developments; or as rent assistance directly into the bank accoun

Australia needs to decarbonise its energy supply to meet its international commitments on greenhouse gas emissions. Electricity from wind and solar can help – but how do we reduce emissions from the gas we use to warm our homes, heat water and cook dinner? The COAG Energy Council has set up a taskforce to examine the role of hydrogen in Australia’s energy system. Hydrogen can be produced from zero-emissions sources, and can be mixed in with natural gas in pipelines today. Over time, the gas network could switch to 100 per cent hydrogen, potentially delivering abundant emissions-free energy to households and businesses. In this Forward Thinking event Alison Reeve from the COAG Hydrogen Taskforce, Peter Harcus from Jemena Gas Networks and Craig Memery from the Public Interest Advocacy Centre joined Grattan’s Tony Wood to discuss whether hydrogen will become a key part of Australia’s energy supply.

Event podcast: In this Policy Pitch event at the State Library of Victoria, Council of Homeless Persons CEO Jenny Smith, Residential Tenancies in Victoria inaugural Commissioner Dr Heather Holst and Grattan Institute Fellow Brendan Coates discussed the best way to help low-income earners deal with rising housing costs and reduce the number of Australians who are homelessness.

Event podcast: In this Forward Thinking event, Grattan Institute’s Brendan Coates and The Australian Financial Review’s Joanna Mather discussed what the winner of the May 18 federal election should do to fix superannuation, and the retirement incomes system more broadly.

A conversation with Grattan CEO, John Daley. Many have interpreted the Coalition’s surprise victory in the 2019 federal election as signalling the end of substantial policy reform in Australia. But in this podcast conversation, Grattan's CEO shows that policy inaction is not a viable option, and he identifies priority areas where Prime Minister Scott Morrison might – and should – pursue reform.

Event podcast: The 2019 election has been branded the ‘generational election’. Beyond the hyperbole about an ‘age war’, there are serious questions about the economic future of today’s young Australians. In this Policy Pitch event the panel debated the contentious issue of intergenerational inequality, and identified what if anything we should do about it.

Event podcast: In this Policy Pitch event at State Library Victoria, Grattan Institute’s tax, energy, health, housing, retirement incomes, and transport & cities experts considered the issues in their field and nominate the choices that would really make a difference to Australia’s future. The discussion drew on Grattan’s Commonwealth Orange Book 2019, which identifies policy priorities for the next government.

A comprehensive conversation with the contributors to the Grattan Commonwealth Orange Book 2019 breaking down the key policy priorities for the next federal government. Drawing on 10 years of Grattan research and reports, the Orange Book recommends that Australia's next federal government should defy the national mood of reform fatigue and stare down vested interests to pursue a targeted agenda to improve the lives of Australians. Read the report - https://grattan.edu.au/report/commonwealth-orange-book-2019/ A time guide to this podcast: – 1:30 John Daley and Brendan Coates – The Orange Book policy priorities – 16:50 John Daley – Economic Development – 25:40 Brendan Coates – Housing – 32:40 Marion Terrill – Cities and transport – 41:30 Tony Wood – Energy – 55:10 Stephen Duckett – Health  – 1:05:30 Peter Goss – School education – 1:16:20 Andrew Norton – Higher Education – 1:21:00 Danielle Wood – Budget policy – 1:26:50 Danielle Wood – Institutional reform – 1:32:50 John Daley and Brendan Coates – Final thou

A conversation with Danielle Wood, Budget Policy Program Director. The 2019 budget was delivered on the cusp of the federal election. So, even more than normal, this budget is a political as well as economic document. Danielle Wood unpacks what the budget might mean for Australia and Australians over the next three years and beyond.

Event podcast: In this Forward Thinking event, the panel discussed: what teaching expertise looks like; how access to expert teachers could help every teacher improve their practice; what support expert teachers themselves need; and the benefits and risks of embedding expertise into teacher career paths.

A conversation with Health Program Director Stephen Duckett and Senior Associate Matt Cowgill. Australia should introduce a Medicare-style universal insurance scheme for dental care, so all Australians can go to the dentist when they need to. It would cost $5.6 billion a year and should be phased in over 10 years.

A conversation with Senior Associate Kate Griffiths and Associate Carmela Chivers. Once a year, the Commonwealth releases information on Australia’s political donations system – who donates to political parties and how much? The data isn’t timely but the information contained in this data dump does give clues as to who is funding Australian democracy and who our political parties are most reliant on.  Read the article in The Conversation on the 2019 data release: https://grattan.edu.au/report/whos-in-the-room/ Read the report Who's in the Room? Access and influence in Australian politics: https://grattan.edu.au/news/tasmanias-gambling-election-shows-australia-needs-tougher-rules-on-money-in-politics/

Event Podcast: In this Forward Thinking event, Grattan Institute’s budget, energy, and transport and cities experts considered the issues in their policy area and nominate the choices that would really make a difference to NSW’s future. The discussion drew on Grattan’s State Orange Book, which identifies policy priorities for state and territory governments across the nation.

Event podcast: Two million Australians delay or miss out on dental care each year because of cost. What should be done? Part of the answer is improving the value of existing public dental services. But part of the answer is that the Commonwealth should expand its role and establish a universal dental scheme paralleling Medicare. This Policy Pitch heard about both of these approaches.

Event podcast: 200,000 Victorian customers lost power on 25 January 2019, begging the question: is this the new normal? To answer this question, Grattan Institute's Guy Dundas was joined at this Policy Pitch event by Paul Austin from the Australian Energy Market Operator, the body that manages the electricity market, and Suzanne Falvi from the Australian Energy Market Commission, the body that sets the energy market rules.

A conversation with Energy Fellow Guy Dundas and Senior Associate Lucy Percival. The idea that electricity supply is less reliable with more renewables is wrong. Almost all outages are caused by problems in transporting electricity, and have nothing to do with how the power was generated. It’s also a dangerous idea, because if politicians panic and intervene in the market, power bills could rise even higher.

Event podcast: At this Capital Ideas event, moderator, ANU Energy Change Institute Director Ken Baldwin and our panel, Grattan Institute’s Tony Wood, Warwick McKibbin from ANU and the BCA’s Jessica Wilson discussed if there is any prospect of credible energy and climate change policy in Australia before the next election.

Event podcast: Every year Grattan Institute releases a summer reading list for the Prime Minister. It recommends books and articles that the Prime Minister, or any Australian interested in public debate, will find both stimulating and cracking good reads. Melbourne-based journalist Madeleine Morris joined Grattan Institute CEO John Daley in Melbourne to discuss how this year’s titles illuminate some of Australia’s most important debates.

A conversation with CEO John Daley and Fellow Brendan Coates. The conventional wisdom that Australians don’t save enough for retirement is wrong. The vast majority of retirees today are financially comfortable, and our modelling shows this is likely to be true for most in future. This has big implications for policy.