Policy Monographs
Policy Monographs (PM) are pieces directly commenting on government policy, new programs or legislation.
Categories
Price Drivers: Five Case Studies in How Government is Making Australia Unaffordable
Government influences price levels in more ways than is immediately apparent. Through its direct and indirect interventions in the market, government is one of the most important price drivers in Australia...... Read More
Do Not Damage and Disturb: On Child Protection Failures and the Pressure on Out-of-Home Care in Australia
This monograph shows that the rising size, cost, and complexity of the out-of-home care system in Australia is directly linked to child protection failures. Children are entering care later and more damaged,...... Read More
Working Towards Self-Reliance: Three Lessons for Disability Pension Reform
To successful reduce the number of pensioners on disability support, policymakers must apply the lessons of other welfare reforms. Disability pensioners must be categorised based on their ability to work;...... Read More
Hands, Mouths and Minds: Three Perspectives on Population Growth and Living Standards
The long-run relationship between population growth and living standards has been a source of controversy among economists. This monograph examines three perspectives on the issue and argues that population...... Read More
Selection, Migration and Integration: Why Multiculturalism Works in Australia (And Fails in Europe)
Australia’s migrants are extremely well integrated by international standards, particularly Europe. The reason why multiculturalism works better in Australia than in Europe may be Australia’s more...... Read More
Australia’s Angry Mayors: How Population Growth Frustrates Local Councils
To understand the effects of a growing population on Australia’s councils, CIS surveyed local authorities from all over the country. The results are alarming. The level of frustration with inadequate...... Read More
Democracy and Money: The Dangers of Campaign Finance Reform
Campaign finance reform is presented as improving Australian democracy and government by limiting ‘undue influence’. Yet the practical effect of banning, capping or disclosing political donations is...... Read More
Alcohol Policy and the Politics of Moral Panic
New Zealand’s proposed liquor legislation marks a return to old attitudes towards alcohol regulation that perversely believe, in part due to dubious economic analyses, that placing restrictions on access,...... Read More
Why Does Government Grow?
This paper examines some of the stylised facts in relation to the growth of government in the Western world generally, and Australia in particular. It then reviews some of the main theories advanced to...... Read More
Alcohol Restrictions in Indigenous Communities and Frontier Towns
The double standards applied to the enforcement of liquor legislation have contributed to the alcohol problems present in many Indigenous communities. For there to be a civil society, regulation (or controls)...... Read More
Droughts and Flooding Rains: Water Provision for a Growing Australia
In the 2010 federal elections, the debate over Australia’s population surfaced once again. Groups concerned with the impacts of a growing population have focused on the life source of any settlement:...... Read More
How! Not How Much: Medicare Spending and Health Resource Allocation in Australia
This report traces the evolution of Australian health policy and its consequences across half a century. The public hospital 'crisis,' a political nightmare for all Australian governments, is a legacy...... Read More
Private Housing on Indigenous Lands
Legislation and programs to introduce private housing and businesses on Indigenous land are flawed. Tenure of Indigenous land should be amended to 999-year head leases with the provision for sub-leases...... Read More
Populate and Perish? Modelling Australia's Demographic Future
Since the publication of the 2010 Intergenerational Report, Australia has been debating its demographic future and whether it is desirable for the nation to grow to more than 35 million people by 2050....... Read More
The Rise of Religious Schools in Australia
Growth in the non-government school sector in Australia has been driven by religious schools, with the largest increases in Islamic schools and ‘fundamentalist’ Christian schools. This report examines...... Read More
Indigenous Education 2010
The 2009 NAPLAN literacy and numeracy tests confirm the continued failure of Indigenous education. The government's 'closing the gap' objectives will never be achieved unless real changes to policy are...... Read More
Superseding MMP: Real Electoral Reform for New Zealand
New Zealanders need to seize the opportunity of the upcoming referendum on electoral reform and reinvent their system of government. In Superseding MMP: Real Electoral Reform for New Zealand Luke Malpass...... Read More
The Unfinished Business of Australian Income Tax Reform
Robert Carling says the reform agenda for personal income tax should be to cut marginal tax rates; implement automatic indexation of thresholds for inflation; scale back the myriad selective tax breaks...... Read More
Indigenous Employment, Unemployment and Labour Force Participation: Facts for Evidence Based Policies
Professor Helen Hughes, Senior Research Fellow at the CIS and Mark Hughes highlight that Indigenous non-labour force participation is a much greater problem than unemployment. ‘Indigenous unemployment...... Read More
Behind the Moral Curtain: The Politics of a Charter of Rights
Elise Parham argues that a federal charter of rights would be used by special interest groups as a powerful political tool. Evidence emerging in the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria – which...... Read More
