Australian taxpayers contributed $30.2 billion to the private accounts of that portion of the population with superannuation 2011-12. By 2015-16 this sum is projected by Treasury to rise to more than $45 billion by which time it will be, by far, the single largest area of government expenditure. By 2015-16 the taxpayer contribution of $45

Loneliness is the disconnect felt between desired interpersonal relationships and those that one perceives they currently have. While the subjective nature of this experience makes measuring loneliness difficult, understanding loneliness is important for the development of a range of social policies. The availability of longitudinal Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey data

The role of unemployment benefits is to insulate people from the severe financial hardship of going to work one day and discovering that they no longer have a job. Few people earning $60,000 per year, raising children and attempting to repay their home loan can afford to remain unemployed for more than a few months

One of the tools used by the government in pursuit of ‘welfare cheats’ is data-matching. The Data-matching Program cross-checks income and personal details held by one agency against similar data held by other agencies, primarily the Australian Taxation Office. The focus of this program is identifying overpayments amongst existing welfare assistance recipients (the difference between

In order to receive fair treatment through the legal system, it is often necessary to seek assistance from a lawyer. This can be an expensive exercise, depending on the matter to be resolved and one’s capacity to pay for it. The financial costs of pursuing justice can be so high that a great many people

Catalyst Australia welcomes the initiative of the City of Sydney in developing Wellbeing Indicators. We applaud the endeavour, and recognize that the process of developing the Indicators will promote community awareness of factors that contribute to social wellbeing as well as provide information to guide future policy-making by the City of Sydney and potentially the

Poker machines play a major role in redistributing income away from those with the least and towards those with the most. According to the Productivity Commission the social cost of poker machines is approximately $4.7 billion per year. Perversely, those who profit most from this most inequitable of income distribution devices often justify the existing

The scope of the Inquiry is broad. In our submission we have chosen to focus on three areas of policy interest, drawing on our work over the past four years.

In recent decades technology has revolutionised the way companies do business and workers do their jobs. From the very top of organisations to the most menial and low-paid roles, the great majority of employees now use information and communication technology to some extent for work. Some spend their entire working lives in front of a screen of some sort.

When sick, the doctor is the first port of call for most Australians. In 2009-10 one in five visits to a GP resulted in extra fees over and above the Medicare scheduled fee. An estimated $557 million extra were paid for these visits. While the government encourages GPs to charge the scheduled fee (known as

It is often said that to retire with dignity in Australia a couple would need a retirement income of around $50,000 per year. In order to help Australians achieve such levels of retirement incomes Australian taxpayers now contribute around $27 billion per year in tax concessions to help boost the retirement savings of so called

The internet today stands at a crossroads. Entry into the online marketplace is in theory open to virtually anyone with sufficient technological know-how and a viable business model. As a result, the World Wide Web is now the very model of diversity, with more information, more products and more opinions accessible more easily than through

Australian women suffer a ‘wage penalty’ when they return to work after having a child, according to new research by the Australia Institute. In the first year back at work, women can expect to earn around four per cent less per hour on average than they would if they had not had a child, the

The online retail boom has begun and it is unlikely to abate soon. According to Southern Cross Equities (2010) domestic online retailers have doubled their market share to 4.0 per cent of 2010 annual sales up from 2.1 per cent in 2005. In addition, overseas purchases driven by a strong dollar and falling shipping prices

The Australian tax-transfer system targets those in need and, as a consequence, is prone to poverty traps, areas where higher private income leads to very little gain in disposable income, and high effective marginal tax rates (EMTRs) in general. This can severely impact on people’s ability to work their way out of poverty. Particularly acute

This paper presents the first data collected for the Measuring what Matters indicators; access to primary health care. The paper begins by presenting new data on why people say they wish to see a doctor and then reports the degree of difficulty that Australians experience as to their ability to make appointments with doctors at

As a result of climate change, the distribution of dengue and other vector-borne diseases will be affected not only in Australia but also globally so that shortages in the supply of fresh blood products could become more widespread in the future. This situation highlights the need for Australia to adopt effective national emissions targets and

We are constantly told that ‘nano’ science and technology are going to revolutionise our lives – but what does this really mean? This paper aims to introduce and engage its audience in the experiment that is nanoscale sciences and technologies, particularly from the perspectives of consumer and environmental protection and occupational health and safety. By

Report analysing Australian tax treatments. The paper concludes with a number of suggestions for reform, principally: · eliminating the 50 per cent discount · incorporating all pre-1986 assets · deemed realisation of assets on death · including owner-occupied housing above a certain value.

This piece is a comparison between a phone surveying and an internet surveying, costing $56,000 and $6000, and lasting one month and six days respectively. The participants were common in sex, state/territory, country of birth, working status, highest level of education, household income and area of residence; and only had marginal differences in age. As

Since 2005, the great majority of Australian workers have been able to choose their own superannuation fund. While some people have taken advantage of greater choice in super, for many people choice is actually a burden. Widespread lack of engagement with superannuation means that competition in this sector is structured around intermediaries (like financial advisers)

Examines the experience of Australian women during recent recessions in order to construct a framework within which the policy response to the current recession can be assessed and improved. The recessions of the early 1980s and the early 1990s are examined and compared with the brief experience so far of the present recession.

In responding to the release of the recent Productivity Commission (PC) draft report into paid parental leave, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd stated: ‘This Australian Government believes the time has come to bite the bullet on this and we intend to do so’. He did not however commit to addressing the issue before the 2009 Federal

Superannuation tax concessions have long been a bone of contention for the welfare sector, which views them as redistributing scarce resources away from low-income earners towards the secure and privileged well-off. This has created a political battleground, with the welfare groups lining up against the super industry represented most notably by ASFA. Reform options are