This Month
Dutton rekindles threat to forcibly break-up insurers
The opposition leader has moved to clear up internal confusion, if not division.
Europe’s welfare state is over
Europe must never again find itself in a position where the likes of US vice-president JD Vance have life-and-death power over it.
February
Anti-corruption commission backflips on robo-debt probe
A review by former High Court justice Geoffrey Nettle says investigations should take place into six people referred over the illegal welfare debt scheme.
July 2024
Middle Australia is indeed the lucky country
A suite of new data sources has enabled the Productivity Commission to revise its measure of economic mobility. The result surprised everyone.
November 2023
Centrelink, Medicare wait time blowout sparks 3000 new hires
Services Australia’s budget will get a $228 million boost to meet a sharp spike in welfare and health claims and delays dealing with them.
September 2023
Labor jobs plan ‘undone’ by IR laws, business claims
The business community says the government’s long-awaited employment white paper will be overwhelmed by the impact of its industrial relations changes.
Chalmers details plan to get pensioners, welfare recipients back to work
Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ white paper on employment will reduce the disincentives that discourage welfare recipients from taking up employment.
Chalmers stands firm on wealthy super tax rise
Jim Chalmers has rebuffed Greens’ demands for an expansion of the taxpayer-funded paid parental leave scheme.
July 2023
How a spreadsheet error spawned the $4.7b robo-debt monster
An analysis created by junior officials looked at just 418 welfare cases and contained a fundamental error. Their bosses seized on it anyway.
Morrison digs in on robo-debt as resignation calls grow
Scott Morrison is contemplating a speech to parliament as he rejects suggestions that he resign because of the robo-debt royal commission findings.
Learning the lesson after welfare crackdown went rogue
Australians will rely heavily on technology and automated systems for government service delivery in future. That cannot end in the digital dystopia of robo-debt again.
Booming tax take now exceeds 24pc of GDP
Economist Chris Richardson estimated the tax-to-GDP ratio for the financial year was hovering about 24.2 per cent, which is the first time it exceeded 24 per cent since 2007-08.
May 2023
‘Welfare to work’ rules become sticking point in US debt ceiling fight
Republicans insist on tougher requirements, but progressive Democrats say they will reject any attempt to compromise.
PM mulls Dutton dole proposal, defends ‘middle Australia’ budget
The government is not ruling out adopting Peter Dutton’s proposal for the unemployed but argues the better option is to get them off welfare altogether.
PM hardens stance over stage three tax cuts
The government believes breaking an election promise would rob it of the goodwill needed to take a reform agenda to the next election.
Why have 40,000 people been on JobSeeker for 10 years, BCA asks
Increases to JobSeeker will improve the lives of the most vulnerable, but reform of the job services sector is still a missing link.
Spooky similarities between Chalmers and Swan
Somehow the grand ambitions of Wayne Swan’s 2008 budget, the first Labor budget after years in the political wilderness, seemed to haunt Jim Chalmers on Tuesday night.
This toe-in-the-water exercise points to tougher tax increases
This budget is a critical step towards more tax rises and spending cuts to take to the next election, including a possible reappraisal of the stage three tax cuts.
$15b in welfare, deficits keep pressure on rates and taxes
Treasurer Jim Chalmers warned there would be more “difficult decisions”, as he confirmed tax hikes to help fund a cost of living package while trying to avoid fuelling inflation.
Treasurer to reveal $4b surplus but deficits still to come
The Treasurer will present the strongest budget bottom line since the Morrison government returned the budget to balance in 2018-19, thanks to a strong labour market.