Australian government budgets are under pressure. In the next 10 years, they are at significant risk of posting deficits of around 4 per cent of GDP. That means finding savings and tax increases of $60 billion a year. This alarming task is not impossible, but it will require tougher choices than those made over the...

Australians are paying too much for prescription drugs. The cost of this overpayment is at least $1.3 billion a year, or $3.5 million a day. This equates to 14 per cent of the entire Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) budget. In a time of escalating health costs and other strains on the Commonwealth Budget, spending on...

Over the last 40 years, higher education has moved from the periphery to the centre of Australian life. As recently as the mid- 1970s, only three out of every hundred working-age Australians had a higher education qualification. By 2012, the proportion had increased to 25 per cent. If current policies are successful, by 2025 40...

This report recommends ways to make our new suburbs, shopping centres and homes more adaptable to change, without imposing undue costs on current residents. We can do many things now to ensure that our newest suburbs are flexible enough to thrive for decades to come.

Graduate Winners provides a framework for public spending on higher education. It sets out when public benefit or fairness considerations justify public spending. Public benefits include higher tax revenues, graduates using their skills to assist others, and general attributes such as greater civic engagement and tolerance. In theory, government spending on higher education can create...