When politicians lie, make things up or simply get important things wrong, we take for granted that it is the role of their political opponents to highlight such errors. Our politicians are so focused on each other’s words that a mere slip of the tongue can become a news story for days. This isn’t so for

Australian universities have been reaping the benefits from taking international students for years. But is that the way it will always be? What if the countries those students come from turn the tables on the cash strapped western universities and ask them to bid for the work?

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:”Table Normal”; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:””; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} Who: “Australia’s natural gas industry created an estimated 100,000 jobs last year. This extraordinary effort is underpinned by

Who: “The government is trying to bully the public service into a set of the numbers that clearly do not properly represent the state of the budget,”  Joe Hockey. The claim: The government has pressed the public service into publishing budget figures that are wrong and misrepresent the state of the budget. The facts: Treasury

Who: “Government debt, as a proportion of GDP, is on trend to grow from 12.1 per cent now… to 77.9 per cent of annual GDP by 2049-50,” PricewaterhouseCoopers. The claim: The claim is that Australia’s debt to GDP ratio will skyrocket unless the government gets spending under control and reforms taxation. The facts: PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)

Who: “We have got… $10 billion going into renewables” Christine Milne. The claim: The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) will use all of its $10 billion to invest in renewable energy. The facts: The CEFC will be allocated $10 billion over five years. The purpose of these funds is to “facilitate increased flows of finance

Who: The current paid parental leave scheme only pays “a welfare wage”. Tony Abbott. “We need to recognise that paid parental leave should be a work place right and not a welfare payment.” Christine Milne. The claim: That payments from the present paid-parental-leave scheme are inadequate as it is not a replacement for previous wages.

Who: “We take more refugees per head of Australian population than any other nation in the world. We take either the second or third most in absolute terms, depending on how you calibrate your calculation” Chris Bowen. The claim: Australia takes the most refugees per capita and takes the second or third most in absolute terms. The facts: The  UNHCR

Who: “The Australian public now have certainty, Australians demand to know that the prime minister they elect is the prime minister they get and that is underlined by these reforms.” Kevin Rudd The claim: A change in caucus rules means that a popularly elected Labor party prime minister cannot be challenged from within his or

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s announcement that the carbon price is now a quarter of what was forecast is good news; the question is, for whom? Rather than crippling, the impact of the carbon price is barely even irritating for most polluters. Compared with the impact of the high exchange rate since 2007, the carbon price

Australia used to have very high protection rates for its manufacturing industries. Historically tariff quotas on motor vehicles meant that Australian car prices were double the prices for equivalents overseas. Many other manufactured goods were sold at multiples of the prices in overseas markets. Australia like many other countries imposed very high tariffs on most

Is economics a science? When we teach economics students, we usually tell them that they are learning about “the science of the efficient allocation of scarce resources”. But when we listen to public debate, often economists don’t sound very scientific. While it is often said that science can’t proceed without failure, it’s rare to hear an

Who: “Abolishing the carbon tax will take $5,000 off the price of the average new home.” Tony Abbott. The claim: The carbon tax has increased the cost of an average new home by $5,000 and removing the tax will decrease the price by $5,000. The facts: The claim is based on a July 2011 report from the Housing Industry Association (HIA); “research

Who:“We are now the largest Indigenous employer in Australia” Mitch Hooke, Chief Executive of the Minerals Council of Australia. The claim: The mining industry is the biggest employer of Indigenous Australians. The facts: Data for Indigenous employment by industry from the 2011 census shows the mining industry employed four per cent of the Indigenous workforce.

Who: “If there is more gas, the basic rules of supply and demand will work. If there is more gas then the prices will become competitive.” Cheryl Cartwright, Chief executive of the Australian Pipeline Industry Association. The claim: The removal of restrictions on Coal Seam Gas (CSG) will result in increased production which will cause

Who: “Australia is one of only eight countries in the world that has a AAA credit rating from all of the three international credit rating agencies.” Penny Wong. The claim: Australia is one of only eight countries with a AAA credit rating. The facts: There are eleven countries in the world that have a AAA

Who: “There really are not enough wealthy people to make a jot of difference. So I have worked it out, let’s think about the top one per cent, if you imposed a 75 per cent average tax rate, ok, not a marginal tax rate, this is horrendous. … You would only raise between 20 and

In debates about climate change and the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, there is a widely-held belief that market mechanisms, like the Labor government’s carbon pricing scheme, will reduce emissions in the cheapest possible way. As a matter of pure theory, this is correct but, in practice, it depends on what is included and excluded

We all agree that gas prices are going to rise. The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) would have you believe that the restrictions on coal seam gas (CSG) in NSW are the cause of the coming price hikes. Ironically, it’s not the lack of CSG that is driving up the price but the

Who: “Everything Labor has done has made it easier for the big 4 banks to make bigger profits off the backs of consumers.” Adam Bandt. The claim: The Labor Government has made it easier for the big four banks to increase profits. The facts: A formal deposit insurance arrangement was introduced at the time of the global

Who:  “The people coming here by irregular maritime arrivals (arriving by boat) are not people fleeing persecution…They’re coming here as economic migrants… We need a tougher, more hard-edged assessment.” Bob Carr “Recent spike in Iranian immigration, which is overwhelmingly middle-class Iranians… who are coming to these shores as economic migrants” Bob Carr The claim: The

When it comes to future generations it seems that we can never be too generous. But is this generosity coming at the expense of current generations? In Canberra, when it comes to job losses, it seems the answer is ”yes”. Consider the Australian National University’s approach to its finances. The ANU is owned by taxpayers

The mining industry is in the middle of an expensive new campaign to convince Australians that the growth of mining will not come at the expense of farming. In late 2011 Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott talked about respecting the rights of farmers and about protecting arable land from mining, but rejected calls to stop

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Who: “Labor has invested more in health care than any previous government…This means more beds.” ALP website. The Claim: The number of hospital beds has increased under the Labor government. The Facts: In absolute terms hospital bed numbers have increased under Labor. However, this figure does not consider the increase in the population over time.

Who: “Do we really need 20,000 more public servants in Canberra today than we had at the end of the Howard era?” Tony Abbott. The Claim: The public service has grown by 20,000 people in the last 5 years. The Facts: Tony Abbott has overstated the growth in the Australian Public Service (APS). The APS has

Last week, the newly installed Prime Minister Kevin Rudd challenged Tony Abbott to a debate about public sector debts and deficits. If it goes ahead, it would likely be a rare respite from the slogans that have haunted Australian public debate for the past few years. But the debate that we should be watching is

It’s that time of year again when we appeal to your generous nature, your love of progressive ideas and your support for ‘research that matters’ …. and your ability to claim it back as a tax deduction! For us, it’s an opportunity to show you what can be achieved and why we think Australia needs

Who: “A Coalition Government will deliver one million new jobs over the next five years and two million new jobs within the next decade.” From the Liberal Party’s ‘Our Plan Real Solutions for all Australians’. The Claim: The implication is that generating 1,000,000 new jobs in Australia over five years and 2,000,000 over 10 years

Who:  “The path back to surpluses, debt reduction and a strong, prosperous economy must be through cutting wasteful spending, rather than on increasing taxes or introducing new ones.” “Australia must live within its means.” Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey. The Claim: The government needs to cut back its spending and get the budget into surplus