The history and future of Medicare
A conversation with Health Program Director Stephen Duckett and Fellow Hal Swerissen. February 1, 2018 marks the 34th anniversary of the beginning of Medicare. How did it begin, how has it been used politically and what challenges will it continue to face?
31 Jan 201829min
The ten-year story of Australia's Electricity price rise crisis
A conversation with Energy Fellow, David Blowers. Australia’s electricity sector is in crisis, or something close to it. But electricity shortages are just one part of the story - for most Australians a more visible and perhaps crucial part of this crisis is our ever-increasing electricity bills and everyone wants to blame someone else for the problem. Is there a single factor responsible for our electricity pricing woes? Or is the story more complex than that? Discussed on the podcast this week: David Blowers, A high price for policy failure: the ten-year story of spiralling electricity bills, January 2018 https://grattan.edu.au/news/a-high-price-for-policy-failure-the-ten-year-story-of-spiralling-electricity-bills/ Wood, T., Blowers, D., and Moran, G. Price shock: is the retail electricity market failing consumers?, 2017 https://grattan.edu.au/report/price-shock/
23 Jan 201828min
What's the latest research on housing affordability?
A conversation with Australian Perspectives fellow, Brendan Coates and Associate Trent Wiltshire. Unsurprisingly, housing affordability continues to remain in focus for media, politicians and researchers. In recent weeks, two papers have been released discussing regional housing supply and demand in Australia and housing accessibility for first home buyers. Here are the papers discussed on the podcast this week: Gianni La Cava, Hannah Leal and Andrew Zurawski, Housing Accessibility for First Home Buyers, RBA Bulletin December Quarter 2017 http://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2017/dec/pdf/bu-1217-3-housing-accessibility-for-first-home-buyers.pdf Ben Phillips and Cukkoo Joseph, Regional Housing Supply and Demand in Australia Regional Housing Supply and Demand in Australia, 2017 http://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/research/publications/regional-housing-supply-and-demand-australia Also discussed in the podcast this week: Ong, Dalton, Gurran, Phelps, Rowley, Wood, Housing supply responsiveness in Australia: distribution, drivers and institutional settings, May 2017 https://www.ahuri.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/13242/AHURI-Final-Report-281-Housing-supply-responsiveness-in-Australia-distribution-drivers-and-institutional-settings.pdf Brendan Coates, Presentation to National Housing Conference: Tax reform alone won’t solve the housing affordability crisis, 30 November 2017 https://grattan.edu.au/news/tax-reform-alone-wont-solve-the-housing-affordability-crisis/
18 Dec 201734min
Prime Minister’s Summer Reading List 2017
Event podcast: at this Policy Pitch event, Grattan Institute launched our annual Summer Reading List for the Prime Minister at the State Library Victoria. Melbourne broadcaster Sally Warhaft joined Grattan Institute CEO John Daley in Melbourne to discuss how this year's titles illuminate some of Australia’s most important debates.
5 Dec 20171h 17min
Competition in Australia: Too little of a good thing?
A conversation with Grattan Program Director Jim Minifie, Senior Associate Cameron Chisholm and Associate Lucy Percival. The widely held belief that powerful firms control the Australian economy is a myth. But where a few firms dominate markets, such as in the supermarket and banking sectors, they earn higher profits.
3 Dec 201724min
Cities and the regions: a growing divide? - Sydney
Event podcast: This Forward Thinking event explored the widening economic and social divide between Australia’s cities and regions. What are the economic forces at play? What are the effects on the social fabric of the nation? And what if anything should governments do to bridge the divide?
28 Nov 20171h 15min
Towards an adaptive education system in Australia
A conversation with School Education Program Director, Pete Goss. Australia’s school education system is not fit for purpose, and we need to rethink the way we teach students, support teachers and run schools. To halt the decline, we should make the system more adaptive.
26 Nov 201734min
Can Australia fix its energy mess? - Melbourne
Event podcast: Energy policy in 2017 has been constantly in the media headlines, driven by the reality of the impact of high prices and security uncertainty and the ongoing, intense politicisation of energy and climate change policy. The chair of the Energy Security Board, Kerry Schott, and the chair of the ACCC, Rod Sims, came together for our last Energy Futures forum for 2017 to reflect on 2017 and what we need in 2018.
22 Nov 20171h 33min
