Issue Analysis
Issue Analysis (IA) are shorter publications that deal with controversial and current issues.
Categories
Healthy Stores, Healthy Communities: The Impact of Outback Stores on Remote Indigenous Australians
The federal government’s initiative to improve remote community stores is crowding out the competition and not delivering on its promises... Read More
Towards a Red Tape Trading Scheme: Treating Excessive Bureaucracy as Just Another Kind of Pollution
Dr Oliver Marc Hartwich, CIS Research Fellow, argues that Government should measure the regulatory costs on the Australian economy and consider a ‘cap and trade’ scheme to manage red tape.... Read More
Defeating Dependency: Moving Disability Support Pensioners Into Jobs
Jessica Brown, policy analyst with the CIS argues that the focus of reform efforts should be on encouraging some of the 750,000 existing disability support pensioners back into work.... Read More
On the Right Track: Why NSW Needs Business Class Rail
Rail connections between Sydney and neighbouring cities need to improve substantially and business class carriages would be a good first step. Jennifer Buckingham and Dr Oliver Marc Hartwich look past...... Read More
Fiscal Shock and Awe in the United States
It may well be inevitable that the relative economic standing of the United States, and therefore its place in the world, will decline as other less mature economies advance. But the US fiscal problem...... Read More
What’s Next for Welfare-to-Work?
In 2006, the Howard government’s Welfare to Work reforms placed new eligibility requirements on recipients of the Disability Support Pension (DSP) and Parenting Payment (PP), with the aim of reducing...... Read More
Educating The Disadvantaged
Every child can succeed at school if education providers take the right approach. In a collection of four essays, Educating the Disadvantaged reveals the diverse stories of those who have seen why some...... Read More
KiwiRail: Doomed to Fail?
Government ownership cannot and will not ‘fix’ rail in New Zealand. Luke Malpass argues that one year after the renationalisation, it has become clear that the previous government’s justifications...... Read More
Diminishing Democracy: The Threat Posed by Political Expenditure Laws
Electoral law reforms nearing a Senate vote risk making political activists inadvertent lawbreakers, deterring financial supporters of Australia’s civil society, and creating unnecessary bureaucratic...... Read More
Emissions Tax: The Least Worst Option
The New Zealand government’s emissions trading system, due to come into force in 2010 for energy and 2013 for agriculture, is the wrong approach. Researchers John Humphreys and Luke Malpass argue...... Read More
In Defence of Non-Government Schools
Non-government schools are providers of public education and deserve adequate public funding, This report argues that the purposes and functions of public education – academic, social and civic –...... Read More
The Folly of Criminalising Cartels
The government should reconsider the introduction of criminal penalties for cartelisation. The federal government proposes to introduce a maximum jail term of 10 years for individuals found guilty of...... Read More
Indigenous Participation in University Education
The government’s use of race-based ‘average’ educational performance measures denigrates Indigenous achievement, ignoring the achievements of the 24,000 Indigenous university graduates in Australia. ...... Read More
Ending No. 8 Wire Welfare: Why New Zealand is lagging behind
The government’s welfare policy is moving in the right direction and a recession is a good time to reform the welfare system. Luke Malpass’s report argues that introducing more rigorous work-first...... Read More
With No Particular Place To Go: The Federal Government's Ill-concieved Support for the Australian Car Industry
With the US car manufacturing industry faltering further, the Rudd government’s massive taxpayer-funded support for the Australian car industry is doomed to fail. Dr Oliver Hartwich argues that it...... Read More
In Defence of Civil Society: The Virtue of Prescribed Private Funds
The Commonwealth government is looking to change the rules governing charitable funds which may harm philanthropic giving and consequently, undermine civil society.John Humphreys, argues that ‘given...... Read More
Are We All Keynesians Again?
The revival of activist fiscal policy ought to be highly controversial because the 1970s and 1980s saw a new consensus emerge that it was ineffective or even damaging. The lessons from that era remain...... Read More
Fixing Prices: Why Vouchers Won't Work While Governments Set Fees
The Bradley report is another chapter in the long story of pricing neglect in higher education. Andrew Norton says that the Bradley report should have gone further to solve the financial problems of...... Read More
Beyond Symbolism: Finding a Place for Local Government in Australia's Constitution
Local governments could provide better services, like schools and fast development approvals if they received a higher proportion of tax revenue and a formal definition in the Constitution. Dr Oliver...... Read More
Making the Grade: School Report Cards and League Tables
International research shows that students in schools that publish their results publicly perform better than students in schools that do not. It is time for Australian schools to be accountable too. In...... Read More
