Policy Monograph 97 Fatally Flawed: The Child Protection Crisis in Australia Jeremy Sammut with Toby O'Brien It is not underfunding or an overwhelming workload that has caused child protection services to fail the vulnerable children they exist to protect, it is the failure to investigate reports and remove children in danger, says a new report being released by Jeremy Sammut. [read more] Policy Monograph 95 Breaking the Cycle of Family Joblessness Jessica Brown Tax cuts, mutual obligation and Labour force flexibility in the Budget could make or break jobless families says Jessica Brown. [read more] Policy Monograph 94 Revisiting Indigenous Education Professor Helen Hughes and Mark Hughes Professor Helen Hughes and Mark Hughes argue that there is no ‘gap’ between the literacy and numeracy of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. The gap is between Indigenous students in mainstream schools and Indigenous students in non-performing remote schools. [read more] Issue Analysis 109 Ending No. 8 Wire Welfare: Why New Zealand is Lagging Behind Luke Malpass Luke Malpass argues that introducing more rigorous work-first policies is important in a recession so that if unemployment does rise substantially, people do not lose touch with the world of work. [read more] Policy Monograph 93 Bubble Poppers: Monetary Policy and the Myth of ‘Bubbles’ in Asset Prices Stephen Kirchner Monetary policy and central banks should not aim to actively manage asset price cycles. [read more] Issue Analysis 108 With No Particular Place to Go: The Federal Government's Ill-Conceived Support for the Australian Car Industry Dr Oliver Marc Hartwich With the car manufacturing industry faltering further, the Rudd government’s massive taxpayer-funded support for the Australian car industry is doomed to fail. [read more] Policy Monograph 92 From Rhetoric to Reality: Can 99-year Leases Lead to Homeownership for Indigenous Communities? Sara Hudson A lack of private property rights on communally owned indigenous land means homeownership is impossible [read more] Issue Analysis 107 In Defence of Civil Society: The Virtue of Prescribed Private Funds John Humphreys The Commonwealth government is looking to change the rules governing charitable funds which may harm philanthropic giving and consequently, undermine civil society says John Humphreys. [read more] Issue Analysis 106 Are We All Keynesians Again? Robert Carling Robert Carling warns that policymakers seem to have forgotten the lessons learned in the 1970s and 1980s about the limits to effective fiscal stimulus, in their rush to prop up sagging economies. [read more] Issue Analysis 105 Fixing Prices: Why vouchers won’t work while governments set fees Andrew Norton The Bradley review into higher education should have gone further to solve the financial problems of underfunded universities by deregulating student contribution amounts for higher education courses, says Andrew Norton. [read more] Policy Monograph 91 Radical Surgery: The only cure for NSW Hospitals Wolfgang Kasper The systemic failures of public hospitals in NSW are caused by their excessive bureaucratisation. Without drastic reform, NSW citizens are likely to lose their traditional free access to public hospitals. [read more] Issue Analysis 104 Beyond Symbolism: Finding a Place for Local Government in Australia’s Constitution Oliver Marc Hartwich 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, says a new report by Oliver Hartwich. [read more] Policy Monograph 90 A Streak of Hypocrisy: Reactions to the Global Financial Crisis and Generational Debt Jeremy Sammut Household savings in Australia have collapsed due to an unnecessary dependence on welfare handouts. This means the next generation of young people will have to pick up the bill for the baby boomers taxpayer funded healthcare and aged pensions. [read more] Policy Monograph 89 Harmacy: The Political Economy of Community Pharmacy in Australia David Gadiel The pharmacy sector is one of Australia’s most protected industries. Few countries have such complex and restrictive pharmaceutical scheduling laws as Australia. This has inhibited competition and increased the costs that Australian consumers pay for many non-prescription pharmaceuticals sold only by pharmacies. This industry is a standout candidate for micro-economic reform. [read more] Policy Monograph 88 Capital Xenophobia II: Foreign Direct Investment in Australia, Sovereign Wealth Funds, and the Rise of State Capitalism Stephen Kirchner Australia is missing out on its share of capital inflows from overseas due to an overly restrictive FDI regime. The Australian government’s mistrust of foreign direct investment, or ‘capital xenophobia’, lowers Australia’s chances of attracting the productive capital that contributes to rising living standards. [read more] Issue Analysis 103 Making the Grade: School Report Cards and League Tables Jennifer Buckingham [read more] Issue Analysis 102 Million Dollar Babies: Paid Parental Leave and Family Policy Reform Jessica Brown Support for paid parental leave has been so vocal that rather than being a means to an end, paid parental leave has become the end itself. Evidence-based policy has been sidelined with the Productivity Commission set the task of designing a set of objectives that justify the desired policy [read more] Issue Analysis 101 China's Insecurity and Search for Power John Lee China feels strategically vulnerable and is working to strengthen its power and influence. This insecurity has led Chinese policymakers to develop strategies designed to build greater productive capacity in order to further its mission: to return China to greatness [read more] Issue Analysis 100 Baby Steps Toward Self-funded Parental Leave Jessica Brown Much has been made of the good that could come from giving Australian mothers paid maternity leave. But in the current debate, many of the assumptions about paid maternity leave have gone largely unchallenged. This paper examines some of the complexities involved in implementing a taxpayer- or employer-funded scheme [read more] Issue Analysis 99 Government Intervention in Mortgage Finance: The Case Against ‘AussieMac’ Stephen Kirchner It has been suggested that the federal government should sponsor an institution, dubbed ‘AussieMac’, to acquire RMBS to promote the continued functioning of these markets. This paper argues that the AussieMac proposal is unlikely to deliver significant benefits for Australian home buyers and that government intervention in the market for mortgage-backed securities is an inefficient way of promoting housing affordability.  [read more] Issue Analysis 98 The Bipolar Pacific Helen Hughes and Gaurav Sodhi Australians have become accustomed to bad news from the Pacific islands but there appear to be two Pacifics. One group of islands has managed to grow, while a second group of islands have stagnated at best. [read more] Policy Monograph 87 The Faulty Arguments Behind Australia's Corporate Tax Sinclair Davidson While public debate has concentrated on personal income tax, there has been little demand for corporate tax reform. This paper investigates Australian corporate tax and highlights a number of issues that deserve greater public awareness. [read more] Issue Analysis 97 Child Care and the Labour Supply Jennifer Buckingham The CIS Issue Analysis Child Care: Who Benefits? found little evidence that formal child care has lasting benefits for the broader population of children. This paper seeks to verify the claims about child care and female labour supply. [read more] Policy Monograph 86 CDEP: Help or Hindrance? Sara Hudson The Community Development Employment Projects program was established to help Indigenous Australians move from welfare into work. But despite its good intentions, thirty years of CDEP have proved that it is preventing Indigenous people from getting mainstream jobs. [read more] Policy Monograph 85 The False Promise of GP Super Clinics, Part 2: Coordinated Care This is the second of a pair of Policy Monographs that examine the evidence base and assumptions of four key health policy areas. Each of these areas is widely considered to be pertinent to whether the Medicare system will be sustainable into the twenty-first century [read more] Issue Analysis 96 A Whiff of Compassion? The Attack on Mutual Obligation Peter Saunders Mutual obligation requires people receiving welfare benefits to undertake a prescribed activity or forfeit some or all of their payment. Changes proposed by the Rudd Government threaten to undermine mutual obligation, resulting in worse outcomes for moving people from welfare into jobs. [read more] Issue Analysis 95 Putting Democracy in China on Hold John Lee China’s transformation from the backward, autocratic economy of just three decades ago is probably the most spectacular and rapid in history, but we should reject the blind and deterministic logic that a rising China will inevitably become a democratic one. [read more] Issue Analysis 94 KiwiSaver or KiwiSucker? A Critical View Phil Rennie KiwiSaver is a pointless and expensive straitjacket on the New Zealand economy. The incentives added last year have made the scheme expensive, distorting, regressive, unfair, unstable, and unsustainable. [read more]