You’ve likely heard a lot about ‘funds’ in this election campaign; the Coalition announced a few of them and promised to make huge savings by canning funds created by the Albanese Government. Funds can be a confusing concept, so here’s an explainer.

University is expensive and many are falling behind.

1. Uni graduates pay more in HECS than the gas industry pays in PPRT University used to be free but is now more expensive than ever. After graduating with an arts degree a young Australian will now repay the government around $50,000. Meanwhile, Australia is one of the world’s largest gas exporters, but multinational gas

Junior rates make life harder for young Australians than it should be.

The amount committed by both political parties to preventing domestic and family violence suggests they believe there are other, more important, priorities.

In 2023-24 tax from the PRRT was less than an quarter the amount raised by HECS/HELP debts repayments.

Australia’s university Vice-Chancellors are among the highest paid in the world, while Australia’s PhD students are some of the lowest paid. That is not a sign of a healthy education system.

The pay of university Vice-Chancellors has soared well beyond that of the teaching staff for no improvement in management.

Australia’s university vice-chancellors are among the highest paid in the world, and yet all that money does not deliver better outcomes for students.

It is not often we can look to America for good public policy – but they have one good idea about helping encourage corporate whistleblowers while also raising revenue.

The increased cost of university degrees has amplified the difference in time it takes to pay off a degree in each state – and can make it more attractive to work elsewhere.

Australians in their 20s have HECS/HELP debts more than $10,000 greater in real terms than did people 20 years ago

Non-compete clauses limit the ability of workers to seek better pay and conditions and not surprisingly employers love them.

We need to stop giving billions to high income earners that just exacerbates the housing crisis

We need to tax things we want less of and subsidise things we want more of. Right now with PRRT and HECS, we’re doing it the wrong way round.

It is clear the massive increase in SUVs and utes is not due to more tradies or those using them on weekends, but because our tax system encourages the purchase of these behemoths to the detriment of our roads, our safety and the climate.

The Wellbeing Framework suggests Australia’s prosperity is linked with company profits, but it wrongly suggests this also measures people’s living standards.

The Wellbeing Framework aims to measure what matters, but its measure of innovation has little to do with research or development

According to Treasurer Jim Chalmers, the new Wellbeing Framework “helps us put … fairness and opportunity at the very core of our thinking”, but (astoundingly) lacks any substantive measure of poverty.