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. The discussion paper, Reclaiming our Common Wealth makes a case for reconnecting public policies to shared values and openly stated principles. Future papers and articles will present brief, accessible summaries of the principles neglected in current government policies, and explain their implications for policy makers.

Money, Money, Money

The current political obsession with public debt has crowded out any sensible consideration of the other side of the balance sheet, the quality of the assets which that debt is financing. We are too concerned with money to think about wealth. In the ABC television coverage of the 2004 federal election, when Howard’s victory was becoming clear, an exhilarated supporter explained to the reporters why he had voted for the Coalition: ‘It’s because I’ve become … more

Is neoliberalism withering? Weighing up the progressive future

To answer this question – in what perhaps is typical academic style – one might begin by questioning the topic. I’m not so sure that we are ‘after’ neoliberalism. Yes, there’s been lots of talk about government regaining ascendency over markets, with the announcement of ‘nation-building’ projects and ‘stimulus packages’ that seemingly fly in the face of ‘hands-off’ market approaches to governance. However various forms of free-market thinking that owe much to neoliberalism remain embedded … more

The Future of Social Democracy – Crunch Time Conference Speech

Kevin Rudd has declared the global financial crisis marks the end of the romance with free markets and the beginning of a new era of social democracy. However the prospects for a return to social democracy are grimmer than widely assumed. There are three factors lining up to suggest that social democracy will soon be facing a crisis of its own. The first threat is perhaps the most manageable. Social democrats traditionally relied on Keynesian … more

 

Tax: A Broader Mission

An unstated assumption behind the Henry Tax Review is that there will be no fundamental change in the Australian economy in coming years. Its focus therefore is on a set of technical tasks, including attending to perverse incentives which cause economic misallocation, reducing inequities, and simplifying what has become a very complex set of laws and regulations. But a question which policy makers should be addressing is whether we are asking our tax and transfer … more

An Economic Fool’s Paradise

In a handful of controversial books and essays published in the mid-1990s, US economist Paul Krugman shed doubt on the sources of free-market economic prosperity. Fads and fashions, he argued, underwrote a global free-market orthodoxy that offered few real explanations of why some economies prosper and why some don’t. The great advances resulting from free trade that were often attributed to the Asian ‘tigers’ in the early 1990s offered a lesser understanding of the boom … more

How Productive is Social Policy?

In a speech to the 2008 ACOSS national conference, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard was on shrewd message: For too many Australians, access to experiences and opportunities that are fundamental to their wellbeing and dignity are simply not available. In a nation as prosperous as ours this is both morally and economically unacceptable… In fact we believe that fairness and prosperity are inseparable…[Our policy is] a new framework for national policy based on the powerful … more

 

Gleebooks and CPD present Miriam Lyons in conversation with Mark Davis

A lively crowd joined CPD Director Miriam Lyons as she met author and CPD fellow and best-selling author Mark Davis to discuss his new book, The Land of Plenty. "The Land of Plenty is exactly what we need at the moment: a lucid, compelling and rigorously tough examination of where we are as a nation. A lacerating dissection of the ideologies of the New Right as well as the inertia and failures of the progressive … more

Facing the Future

The importance of nation building and planning for the future is increasingly recognised in Australia. Higher awareness of long term policy opportunities and challenges – from innovation to climate change, from the rise of China and India to an ageing Australian population – has seen a renewed focus on medium and long term issues. The focus of recent Budgets – which have instituted long term funds to meet the challenges of an ageing population and … more

5 ideas in 5 minutes

1. Blind Trusts The idea is blind trusts, a method which enables political donations to be made while keeping the identity of the donor secret from the recipient. It’s interesting because it seeks to overcome the potential for undue influence associated with donations made to political parties. Those with clearly vested interests in the outcome of government decisions are more willing than ever to make a donation to a party in the ‘hope’ that they … more