Research // Social Security & Welfare
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Economics
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April 2012
Match making: Using data-matching to find people missing out on government assistance
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
Showing their helping hand: The selective promotion of government assistance
Although Australia has a long tradition of providing welfare support, in recent times the promotion of available support has been at best selective. In recent years, campaigns to raise awareness have focused on promoting new forms of assistance, often those that are initiatives of the current government. The Education Tax Refund (ETR) is an example
May 2010
Missing out: Unclaimed government assistance and concession benefits
An analysis of just four Centrelink payments, the Parenting Payment, the Carer Allowance, the Disability Support Pension and the Bereavement Allowance, revealed that in 2008, more than 168,000 Australians missed out on government assistance estimated to be worth $623.8 million. Research shows that people are excluded because of: a lack of awareness about available assistance;
February 2009
Increasing the Newstart Allowance: A necessary part of equitable fiscal stimulus
The arguments for a higher Newstart Allowance or unemployment benefit include the fact that the unemployed have a low propensity to import and to save and are geographically distributed across the country. There is the added virtue of helping to address an increasing problem of horizontal equity, the notion that those in a similar financial
December 2008
Choosing Not to Choose: Making superannuation work by default
This Discussion Paper reviews the former Government’s ‘Choice of Fund’ policy and proposes a range of improvements to the way default superannuation funds are chosen.
October 2008
The role of a higher age pension in stimulating the economy
When the economy is slowing governments can stimulate economic activity by spending more money, thereby increasing the level of demand for goods and services. The Commonwealth Government could start injecting tens of millions of dollars into the economy each week simply by increasing the size of a payment such as the age pension.
February 2005
Demographic trends in private health insurance membership
The Howard government promised to rise in the private health care rebate from 30% to 35% for people over 65 and 40% for people over 70. However between 2001 and 2004 there has been a decrease in private health insurance for people under 55 by 4.8%, while people over 55 have increased 13.7%. Prices for
September 2003
Health Spending in the Bush: an analysis of the geographic distribution of the private health insurance rebate
The coalition’s introduced a 30% private health insurance rebate, costing $2.5 billion per annum. This policy favours urban centres as rural areas have less private hospitals; less money from the rebate going to them, on a per capita bias; and will be affected by the yearly rise in prices after the age of 30. As
February 2003
Funding sport fairly: an income-contingent loans scheme for elite sports training
The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) spent $97 million of taxpayer’s money from 2001-2002 on scholarships for athletes. With each scholarship averaging $23,000 per year, per student, there should be a HECS style sporting scheme. This would entail athletes earning more than $100,000 per annum having to repay the AIS.
August 2000
Mutual Obligation – Ethical and social implications
This paper is a philosophical investigation of the mutual obligation principle and its application to current welfare policy.
June 1999
Competing Interests: Competition policy in the welfare sector
Competition policy and competitive tendering has caused much anxiety in the welfare sector. Will the supposed increase in efficiency cost too much in terms of reduced cooperation between welfare agencies, reduced choice for clients and increased administrative costs for agencies? This study is based on extensive interviews with 37 people from five States and Territories,