CPD's Sustainable Economy Research Program aims to develop and highlight options for Australia to make a rapid transition to an economy which operates within environmental limits and is socially sustainable.

The best-designed policy in the world is meaningless without a healthy democracy. Democracy is not simply a checklist of institutions such as regular elections or an independent judiciary. Rather than a final destination, democracy should be seen as the task of continually expanding the power of citizens to influence the decisions that affect their lives. The Centre for Policy Development's Democratic Renewal program looks at how Australia can approach that task in new and innovative ways.

Attempts to make core public services such as health and education meet the needs of a changing society are being held back by our flawed policy processes. We need from top-down, short-term ad-hoc ‘reforms’ to long-term, systemic renewal based on consistent principles, widespread citizen participation and a realistic understanding of how we live now.

The Centre for Policy Development's 'Citizen Services' program provides a platform for our fellows and others to develop ideas for better public services, based on the principle of equality of access to quality services.

Behind the day to day tussles over specific reform agendas, there is always a deeper and more fundamental struggle, where every debate about solutions to long-term unemployment is also a debate about human nature; every debate about poverty alleviation is also a debate about what constitutes an acceptable level of inequality; and every debate about the level of social spending is also a debate about whether there is such a thing as society, and, if so, what a good one would look like.

In this section CPD thinkers provide rapid-fire responses to the debates of the day, with an eye to the bigger picture and the decades to come. Subscribe to get Thinking Points by email or grab our rss feed.