New South Wales has one of the most prosperous and productive economies in Australia, with a diverse base of economic activity and strong labour market. However, years of austerity have hollowed out its public sector, creating one of the proportionally smallest state public sectors in the country in terms of both economic activity and employment.

New report contrasts South Australia’s economic progress with continued public sector wage restraint By many measures, South Australia has enjoyed the strongest economy of any state in Australia. Its economic growth has been faster in recent years than any state – and in per capita terms, its prosperity has improved twice as fast as the

In less than 20 years, the average HECS-HELP debt for people in their 20s has more than doubled.

Over 20 years ago the Australia Institute recommended creating a rewards system for whistleblowers. In the decades since, rolling corporate scandals have revealed white-collar crime is pervasive while American rewards systems have proven highly successful. By instituting a whistleblower rewards system Australia can more effectively uncover, combat, and deter these crimes, promote ethical business behaviour, and broadly benefit societal wellbeing.

Traffic fines in Australia hit low-income earners disproportionally hard. One potential solution to this problem is traffic fines that are proportional to the income of the offender. This discussion paper outlines one way of applying this model – drawn from Finland –to Australia, including a breakdown for states.

Even though the transport sector is the third largest source of Australian emissions and accounted for 21% of national emissions in 2023, the Australian Government continues to incentivise the sale of big utility vehicles (utes) relative to other car options. Over the last twenty years, the number of utes on our roads has grown much

One in six Australian children live in poverty, yet there is no official poverty line or monitoring of poverty in place.

For many years competition has been enshrined as a goal of economic policy.