Opinion & Commentary
Opinion and Commentary contains media articles written by CIS researchers.
Categories
Seizing a Sino free trade moment
Australia’s regulation of foreign direct investment is a critical stumbling block in a free trade agreement with China. Read More
A war that’s building over bottles of beer
Watering down the building and construction industry watchdog has emboldened the union movement. Read More
Carmaker triumph or GM hypocrisy?
It's a product of public relations that Australians believe every government supports its own car industry, and looking at General Motors' ruthless cost-cutting of its European brands puts even more focus... Read More
Murray's Future Fund brace is broken
David Murray's defence of the Future Fund can only inspire doubt about the ability of sovereign wealth funds to enhance Australia's prosperity. Read More
Minimum wage is a two-edged sword
Like New Zealand’s young workers, Australia’s apprentices are also highly vulnerable to market fluctuations. Many of them are in their first job, have fewer skills, and therefore have less to offer... Read More
Work act flaw threat to growth
Job security is a major bone of contention between unions and employers under the Fair Work Act. Read More
A zero-sum carbon game
There is no point trying to subsidise reductions in carbon emissions if the total amount of emissions is capped anyway. Read More
Why a sovereign wealth fund won't work
Many of the desirable objectives of a sovereign wealth fund could be achieved through greater use of enforceable fiscal policy rules that would enable politicians to make long-term commitments to responsible... Read More
Future Funds or Future Eaters? The case against a Sovereign Wealth Fund for Australia
It has also been argued that Australia needs a SWF to better manage the macroeconomic consequences of the “terms of trade” boom, such as the rising Australian dollar and the so-called “Dutch disease”.... Read More
In search of a Greek hero
To escape from its current mess, Greece does not need more Sisyphus work. It needs someone to tackle the Herculean task of cutting the country loose from Europe’s monetary union. Read More
Give austerity a chance
Fiscal policy should focus on micro-economic issues such as promoting incentives to save, work and invest, as well as ensuring the long-term sustainability of public finances. Read More
It's time to bust open the pharmacists' closed shop
Pharmacists are vital healthcare professionals. But as Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott look to keep the nation's health budget sustainable, it's also clear that very substantive savings can be made from... Read More
The Fightback! lesson: how politics can stymie good public policy
Twenty years ago, the Liberal-National Party coalition released Fightback!, the most comprehensive and market-oriented policy platform ever taken to an election. Read More
Let the online bargain hunt begin, properly
Australians are being ripped off due to Government regulations, especially when buying cars, bananas, and dvds. Read More
Italy defaults on debt and sends lenders broke? So be it
The federal government will need to cut spending to ensure a surplus in 2012-13. Read More
Liberals Drop Ball in Super Free-For-All
Lifting superannuation to 12% is wrong. Read More
Sighs of relief heard from the bankers' bunkers
Alas, the GFC showed that it is impossible for democratic governments to let large financial institutions fail, however much they should. It is a government's job to free taxpayers from unwittingly providing... Read More
Wet ink on a euro death notice
The euro has been a moribund currency for years. The remaining options to buy it more time have been blocked by the German constitutional court. To end this farcical tragedy someone needs to put the final... Read More
Same cracks, just a new coat of paint
Analysis of the NSW Budget Read More
Time to revisit RBA board
Union leaders would have you believe that the board of the Reserve Bank of Australia is beholden to the big end of town, but the current unnecessarily tight monetary policy indicates that this is not the... Read More
NSW budget: time to cut and shed Mick Dundee image
With a public service head count just shy of 390,000, NSW puts the Commonwealth government, with a mere 270,000 staff, to shame. Macquarie Street employs 10% of the NSW workforce. Read More
Don't get starry-eyed about housing
In textbook markets there is no need for price forecasts. Prices are determined by the interaction of supply and demand. If you fed a supercomputer with all the relevant information about buyer preferences,... Read More
Don't get starry-eyed about housing
In textbook markets there is no need for price forecasts. Prices are determined by the interaction of supply and demand. If you fed a supercomputer with all the relevant information about buyer preferences,... Read More
A miracle that masks a mirage
As it turns out, there is not much in the German manufacturing example that Australia should copy. We would be much better advised to make the best of our own comparative advantages of being a resource-rich... Read More
Test Aricle
This is a test to see if we can upload a new article. Read More
There's no such thing as a free healthcare system
But when it comes to health, Australians spurn pragmatism and tear up the laws of economics. We shackle ourselves with a government-funded and managed health system with all the hallmarks of the former... Read More
A poisoned chalice of EU power
Eurobonds had not even been on the agenda (officially, that is), and an EU-wide tax on financial transactions almost certainly will die aborning. In another way, however, the Merkel and Sarkozy show was... Read More
Who needs credit ratings? They should be optional
Banks and investors should thrive or die by the quality of their own assessments of credit risk. They have the most incentive to get it right, writes Adam Creighton, a research fellow at The Centre For... Read More
US Congress swapped a crisis yesterday for a bigger crisis tomorrow
I provoked a tirade of abuse from Crikey readers in the past fortnight when I suggested it would be preferable that the $14.3 trillion United States debt ceiling not be raised. Read More
Dollars must flow if numbers to grow
Debate about Australia's population is framed with national aggregates and ignores how local governments deal with increased population. Part of the reason Australians are averse to more people is because... Read More
Think local and give country towns the freedom to prosper or perish
FOR politicians, and especially for town planners, letting people decide where and how they want to live has never been an acceptable idea. Administrative elites have always been convinced they know better... Read More
Growing anger in local government
So how well are Australian local government leaders really equipped to deal with population growth? Read More
Council rates surging to pay for new residents
Local Government struggling to pay for new residents Read More
Hey regulators, remember the GFC
Housing sector ignores lessons from the GFC at taxpayers’ peril. Read More
Carbon tax cuts for all
Revenue from the government’s proposed carbon tax must be returned to taxpayers through income tax cuts or alternatively, the abolishment of the Medicare levy. Read More
Budget office helps pollies, not punters
The Parliamentary Budget Office should focus analysing overall fiscal strategy and long-term fiscal sustainability rather than policy costings. Read More
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae: Guaranteed to fail?
The failure of Lehman Brothers was a trivial event compared to the much bigger but largely ignored failure a week before, when Freddie and Fannie were put into ‘conservatorship’ by the US government. Read More
Reform a boon to all in the money game
Advisers will now offer dispassionate and useful financial counsel. Read More
Smokers already being ripped off -- plain packaging is just insulting
Smokers are being already being ripped off. The push for plain packaging is just insulting. Read More
A failure of political leadership
Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan's rejection of Singapore Exchange's (SGX) bid for the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) represents a failure of political leadership. Read More
Dump anti-dumping rules to protect consumers
Anti-dumping laws produce the outcome they are meant to prevent. Read More
How the Germans keep a lid on prices
You get a lot more house for your money in Germany and there's a simple explanation for the stability in the housing market — steady growth in supply. Read More
Why consumers should resist the enemies of choice
Behaviourists are wrong to say people should be protected from irrational financial decisions. Read More
Red-tape trading scheme
Red tape should be treated like pollution and perhaps a ‘cap and trade’ scheme should be considered to minimise regulatory burdens. Read More
Europe’s not-so common market
The European common market does not work properly, says Oliver Marc Hartwich in Business Spectator, 1 July 2010. Read More
A European triumph amid the chaos
Amid the current EU financial crisis there still some positive policy ideas, such as the Netherland’s innovative way of cutting red tape. Read More
Cap and trade our way out of red-tape pollution
Red tape should be treated like pollution and perhaps a ‘cap and trade’ scheme should be considered to minimise regulatory burdens. Read More
Mr Swan’s preoccupation with superannuation
The government needs to examine how to treat saving within the tax system and whether super should continue to be more lightly taxed than other forms of saving. Read More
More inscrutable than the Chinese
Why are foreign investment criteria a secret? Read More
Imbalances essential to global economic system
The federal Treasury’s David Gruen recently told a conference at the University of Western Australia that global imbalances were implicated in the global financial crisis and it was desirable that they... Read More
Economic policy must re-earn our respect
Policymakers sacrificed a lot of their credibility due to their responses to the global financial crisis and this can be seen in the fundamental uncertainty about the inflation outlook. Read More
The ABC of policy failure
The federal government is suggesting that ABC’s fall illustrates how desperately the children industry needs re-regulation and is yet another example of excessively greedy capitalism and the free-market... Read More
Only deregulation can create jobs
The unemployment rate in August 2002 stood at 6.2%—a high figure considering continuing economic growth. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there were 622,700 unemployed people, but only... Read More
Unfettered deregulation for varsities
Reserve Bank Governor Ian Macfarlane created headlines recently with his remarks about Australia lacking a university in the world’s top 100. The remedy, he said, ‘will almost certainly involve the... Read More
Publications
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TARGET30: Reducing the burden for future generations
| 01 Jul 2013 | Policy ForumTARGET30 is a campaign promoting smaller government and cutting government spending to less than 30% of GDP in the next 10... Read More...
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TARGET30: Towards smaller government and future prosperity
| 06 Mar 2013 | TARGET30 Research PapersTARGET30 is a campaign promoting smaller government, supported by a series of research reports providing policy solutions... Read More...
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TARGET30 SNAPSHOT: Towards smaller government and future prosperity
| 06 Mar 2013 | TARGET30 SnapshotsTARGET30 is a campaign promoting smaller government, supported by a series of research reports providing policy solutions... Read More...
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Back to the Bad Old Days? Industrial Relations Reform in Australia
| 06 Dec 2012 | Policy MonographsHas the Fair Work Act thrown industrial relations back to ‘the bad old days?’ This report analyses the changes in industrial... Read More...
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Book Launch: 'The Modest Member: The Life and Times of Bert Kelly'
| 04 Dec 2012 | SpeechesWhile Liberals, and certainly liberals, should be proud of Bert Kelly’s legacy, it must not be forgotten that his greatest... Read More...
Opinion & Commentary
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Seizing a Sino free trade moment
| 16 Jul 2013 | Business SpectatorAustralia’s regulation of foreign direct investment is a critical stumbling block in a free trade agreement with China.... Read More
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A war that’s building over bottles of beer
| 29 Nov 2012 | The PunchWatering down the building and construction industry watchdog has emboldened the union movement.... Read More
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Carmaker triumph or GM hypocrisy?
| 29 Mar 2012 | Business SpectatorIt's a product of public relations that Australians believe every government supports its own car industry, and looking at ... Read More
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Murray's Future Fund brace is broken
| 23 Mar 2012 | Business SpectatorDavid Murray's defence of the Future Fund can only inspire doubt about the ability of sovereign wealth funds to enhance Australia's ... Read More
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Minimum wage is a two-edged sword
| 22 Mar 2012 | The Geelong AdvertiserLike New Zealand’s young workers, Australia’s apprentices are also highly vulnerable to market fluctuations. Many of ... Read More
Ideas@TheCentre
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No need to heed the ACTU’s nonsense
| 25 Jan 2013All businesses, whether they are receiving subsidies or not, should be free to buy from whomever and wherever they please....
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Breaking the IR code
| 16 Nov 2012Many employers are worried that increased union presence will create an ‘us versus them’ working culture....
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Some positives from a disappointing review
| 09 Aug 2012Amendments to dealing with unfair dismissal applications in the review of the Fair Work Act are welcome....
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Slicing up a bigger national pie
| 27 Jul 2012ABS figures for 2009–10 shed light on changes in average household incomes, their distribution, and the redistributive ...
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Mutual obligation as human rights abuse
| 22 Jun 2012The Australian Council of Social Service’s letter about the serious breach of international human rights laws here in Australia ...
