What You Need To Know About | CIS

Australia's 100+ Taxes | Robert Carling

Leading economists Robert Carling and Warren Hogan discuss our true tax burden, which is higher than most people believe. They outline how it has grown, why the federal and state governments are not interested in relieving the burden on Australians — and what needs to be done to prevent us sliding into a very grim future.#auspol All our links: https://linktr.ee/centreforindependentstudies

Greedflation: Inflation with an Agenda | Warren Hogan

Warren Hogan is an eminent economist, and the founder of EQ Economics, a Sydney-based micro advisory firm, with a focus on providing economic and strategic advice to businesses in Australia. Warren is a regular in Australian and international media, and a columnist for The Australian Financial Review. He has also published extensively in The Conversation.
In this episode, Warren debunks to notion of greedflation and explains what you need to know about inflation in Australia. "What will determine whether inflation sustains a lift above the target band will come down to what happens in Australian labour markets, and how businesses respond to rising nominal wage growth." - Warren Hogan. 

Alleged politicisation of the public sector | Dr Scott Prasser

In this special episode, Dr Scott Prasser and Prof John McMillan debate over the politicisation of the public sector.
Dr Scott Prasser is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies and a former senior advisor to federal cabinet ministers.
Prof John McMillan is an Emeritus Professor at the Australian National University. He has held former statutory positions of Commonwealth Ombudsman, Australian Information Commissioner, Integrity Commissioner for the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity (Acting) and NSW Ombudsman (Acting). He was Strategic Adviser to the Victorian Ombudsman for its inquiry into allegations of politicisation in the Victorian public sector.

How wasteful spending pushes up major infrastructure costs | Grahame Campbell

Read the paper here. A large amount of taxpayers’ money, state and federal, is expended on large scale infrastructure that is intended to play a crucial part in Australia’s growth and prosperity — although some of it is arguably wasteful or perhaps even pork-barrelling. And as the recent federal government Infrastructure Investment Review found in axing around 50 planned projects, some “do not demonstrate merit, lack any national strategic rationale and do not meet the Australian Government’s national investment priorities. In many cases these projects are also at high risk of further cost pressures and/or delays.”
But major infrastructure projects in Australia are often also more expensive than comparable projects in other countries, even after even after adjusting for differences in currencies and purchasing power.
While a 2014 Productivity Commission Inquiry report on public infrastructure argued that there were examples where Australia was competitive internationally, and that the systematic evidence was missing or incomplete, it noted that several commentators argued Australia performed worse than other countries. The PC, while arguing for substantial reform to our infrastructure processes, also noted there was “considerable uncertainty about many facets of construction costs. There are sometimes large and inexplicable variations in the construction costs for what appear to be similar activities, such as the cost per kilometre of rail projects.”
It is unlikely that much has improved since 2014, especially given the findings of the recent review and estimates that construction costs increased more than 25% over the five years to mid-2022.
There are several factors that contribute to the higher costs of major infrastructure in Australia. The available evidence on major infrastructure construction costs shows that there have been some recent significant increases in input costs. This particularly applies to labour and project management costs, plus contract design, complexity and poor management leading to risk offloading, cost over-runs and costly schedule over-runs. However, it is important to note that the cost of projects can also vary based on specific circumstances, project scope, and other factors.
As listed below, and explained in more detail in the subsequent sections related to costs, factors that can contribute to higher costs for Australian infrastructure projects include:
Labour and Industrial Relations: Australia generally has higher labour costs compared with many other countries. Wages, benefits, and labour regulations can contribute to higher project costs.
Lower Productivity: Productivity is hampered by the lack of a sufficiently educated, skilled and engaged workforce, an efficient work environment, innovation, efficient procurement models and ultimately trust between industry stakeholders.
Regulations and Standards: Australia has strict regulations and standards when it comes to construction, safety, and environmental considerations. Compliance with these regulations often adds to the complexity and cost of infrastructure projects.
Design Complexity: Infrastructure projects in Australia often involve complex engineering and design requirements. This can include considerations such as environmental impact, sustainability, and resilience, which may contribute to increased costs.
Project Management: Effective project management is crucial for successful infrastructure projects. Factors like inefficient planning, delays, and changes in scope can contribute to cost overruns.
Risk Offloading: Project cost is often inflated in Australia by a misguided focus on unloading risk in the early stages of a project’s development. This is often driven by the type of contract that is presented to the industry by lawyers, with the objective of minimising up-front costs and putting most of the risks on the contractors. This practice is not generally followed in other countries, which look at ‘whole of Life’ costs and benefits, resulting in a more cooperative and cheaper outcome.
***Hosted by Karla Pincott, What You Need to Know About is the podcast that covers exactly that. Hear from CIS’ experts on the key points of their research, providing you with concise and insightful overviews of complex topics. In each episode, we break down intricate policy issues, economic trends, social challenges, and more, delivering the essential information you need to stay informed in today’s fast-paced world. Join us as we cut through the noise and dive straight into the heart of matters that shape our society. Whether you’re a policy enthusiast, a curious mind, or just someone looking to grasp the essentials without getting lost in the details, What You Need to Know About is your go-to source for bite-sized yet comprehensive insights.

The Stealth Tax | Emilie Dye

Bracket creep chips away at living standards, especially those of younger generations, a new Issue Analysis by Centre for Independent Studies outlines.  
The paper’s authors, Matthew Taylor and Emilie Dye, point out that Australia’s younger workers have the most to lose from bracket creep because bracket creep is regressive and hits harder for those earlier in their careers and making less money.  Read the paper here: https://www.cis.org.au/publication/bracket-creep-hits-young-australians-hardest/
Hosted by Karla Pincott, What You Need to Know About is the podcast that covers exactly that. Hear from CIS’ experts on the key points of their research, providing you with concise and insightful overviews of complex topics. In each episode, we break down intricate policy issues, economic trends, social challenges, and more, delivering the essential information you need to stay informed in today’s fast-paced world. Join us as we cut through the noise and dive straight into the heart of matters that shape our society. Whether you’re a policy enthusiast, a curious mind, or just someone looking to grasp the essentials without getting lost in the details, What You Need to Know About is your go-to source for bite-sized yet comprehensive insights.

Six ways to Debunk Degrowth | Gene Tunny

Increasingly there are calls for degrowth, not just to abandon the pursuit of economic growth, but to shrink economies. The call for degrowth comes from environmentalists, including activists in groups such as Extinction Rebellion, and some economists, particularly in the field of ecological economics.  It is related to concerns about climate change, pollution, species extinction, and resource exhaustion. Economic growth is to blame, proponents say, and the proposed solution is degrowth, an aggressive contraction of economic activity that requires an acceptance of significantly lower living standards.
Listen as Gene Tunny and Karla Pincott discuss six things you need to know about degrowth. 

Young voters are deserting the right | Matt Taylor

There is growing evidence across the Anglosphere that Millennials and Generation Z are not showing the same propensity as earlier generations to vote centre-right as they age. Centre for Independent Studies research, drawing on data from the Australian Election Studies, suggests this is increasingly true in Australia. Lear what you need to know about this issues with Karla Pincott and Matt Taylor.
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Reforms to teacher education | Glenn Fahey

Hosted by Karla Pincott, What You Need to Know About is the podcast that covers exactly that. Hear from CIS' experts on the key points of their research, providing you with concise and insightful overviews of complex topics. In each episode, we break down intricate policy issues, economic trends, social challenges, and more, delivering the essential information you need to stay informed in today's fast-paced world.
 
Join us as we cut through the noise and dive straight into the heart of matters that shape our society. Whether you're a policy enthusiast, a curious mind, or just someone looking to grasp the essentials without getting lost in the details, What You Need to Know About is your go-to source for bite-sized yet comprehensive insights.
Karla Pincott
Karla Pincott is the Director of Communications at the Centre for Independent Studies, and the Managing Editor at BusinessWoman Media.Below is an excerpt from Glenn Fahey's latest article: 
The proposed overhaul to teacher training will mean better prepared teachers and a greater expectation of training providers. But policymakers should see this as the start — not the end — of reform to the sector.
With education ministers last week committing to the recommendations of the Mark Scott-led Teacher Education Expert Panel, the coming years will potentially see transformative change to initial teacher education. The shakeup provides much-needed improvement to teacher training standards, how training will be monitored, and how practical classroom practice can be prioritised in preparing teachers.
This has been a long time coming and the lack of it has been undermining the education system. Shifting the reform effort so that it targets the quality of teacher training providers, not teaching students, is a refreshing change.Read more here. 
Support us here. 
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Politicisation – the attack on merit and our way of life | Dr Scott Prasser

Hosted by Karla Pincott, What You Need to Know About is the podcast that covers exactly that. Hear from CIS' experts on the key points of their research, providing you with concise and insightful overviews of complex topics. In each episode, we break down intricate policy issues, economic trends, social challenges, and more, delivering the essential information you need to stay informed in today's fast-paced world.
 
Join us as we cut through the noise and dive straight into the heart of matters that shape our society. Whether you're a policy enthusiast, a curious mind, or just someone looking to grasp the essentials without getting lost in the details, What You Need to Know About is your go-to source for bite-sized yet comprehensive insights.
 
Karla Pincott
Karla Pincott is the Director of Communications at the Centre for Independent Studies, and the Managing Editor at BusinessWoman Media.
 
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Below is an excerpt from Scott Prasser paper, which can be read here. Types of politicisation in government
Making senior appointments based on partisanship, personal relationships, loyalty;
Political patronage — rewarding personal and political loyalty in appointments to government advisory boards and committees;
Allocating public finds for political advantage;
Public servants’ direct political involvement in campaigning and party activity;
Appointments of those politically aligned but based on merit selection criteria (“meritorious mates”);
Appointments on grounds of equity or ‘representativeness’ in addition to/or even instead of narrow position ‘merit’ criteria;
Public servants serving in ‘political’ roles in developing policy (as distinct from sharing work with ministers);
Development of a ‘responsive’ public service through contractual employment (giving ministers what they want as distinct from what they need);
Expansion of ministerial roles and offices into more and more areas of administration through expansion of ministers’ offices and powers to oversee and supplant public service functions (giving directions, preparation of cabinet submissions, co-ordination).

Rental and Housing Affordability | Peter Tulip

We need to relax zoning restrictions to allow more housing. At a society level, this requires more acceptance of higher density and less opposition to new development. We need to put more weight on the interests of renters and future home buyers andless weight on the interests of nearby residents. This rebalancing will shift the incentives for elected governments to act.
Societal pressure over the issue of housing affordability is growing, but needs to be encouraged. Were the Victorian government inclined to do something to improve housing affordability, there areseveral measures it could take.
One increasingly popular and effective approach is for the state government to set conditions that apply across local plans. For example, NSW removed limits on the construction of granny flats. New Zealand’s ‘Medium Density Residential Standard’ requires large cities to permit up to three storeys and three dwellings on all existing residential parcels of land. California’s AB 2011 allowed medium-density residential development to proceed by right in commercial zones. American research lists dozens of similar reforms.
Minimum standards can prevent the worst restrictions. However, their uniformity is a limitation: different levels and forms of density are appropriate in different areas.
Granny flats are not efficient in the inner suburbs, while high-rises are not efficient on the outskirts. In practice, blanket over-rides such as Auckland’s Unitary Plan have tended to increase density most on the outskirts; whereas Melbourne arguably most needs development in inner suburbs.
A more flexible approach is for the state government to set and enforce construction targets for local councils, allowing each council to decide how the target should be met. Councils could choose a small number of high-density developments or a larger number of medium density developments.
Either choice improves housing affordability. The important thing is that councils need to allow more housing. The quantity should be decided centrally; the type can be decentralised. An approach like this is followed in NSW and many foreign jurisdictions, including England, California and some Canadian provinces. However, most of those targets are too low and inadequately enforced.
The rationale for the state government over-riding local councils is that the councils are biased against development. They represent nearby residents, not the direct beneficiaries — thenewcomers moving into the area – nor the indirect beneficiaries, the renters and future home buyers who pay lower housing costs. Local governments will act like a cartel, restricting supply and driving up the price of housing. That benefits local property owners, but this is more than outweighed by the harm done to potential residents from outside the area and future generations.
- Peter TulipRead the rest of the paper here:https://www.cis.org.au/publication/rental-and-housing-affordability-submission-to-the-victorian-legislative-councils-legal-and-social-issues-committee/
 
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