Miriam Lyons | Big Ideas and the Battle of the Think Tanks
Progressives and conservatives don’t agree on much, so what happens when you put four leading figures from each side of the ideological scale in a room and ask them to fight? A Battle of...
Ben Eltham | Murray-Darling plan: not a fix, an abject policy failure
Ben Eltham undertakes a survey of a vexing and divisive policy problem: the Murray Darling Basin. “If you want a textbook case of how not manage a river basin, the Murray-Darling Basin is probably...
PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE NEWS | Increased pressure on public service spending
Efficiency dividend to be more efficient > An increase in the Public Service Efficiency Dividend to 4 per cent. Unions, Greens condemn public service cuts > Unions and the Greens have been quick to...
John Menadue | Refugees Arriving by Boat Deserve Equal Rules
After years of locking up asylum seekers who arrive by boat, but allowing those who arrive by air to live in the community while their refugee claims are being processed, the Federal Government has...
James Whelan | Hard to Know Where the Axe Will Fall
The public service is a political victim in an economic debate obsessed with racing to a surplus. When Wayne Swan delivered his mini-budget last week, he announced a further 2.5% in cuts to the...
James Whelan | Public Service Race to the Bottom
Labor’s mini-budget continues politician’s obsession with a surplus. In their race to the bottom, Swan announced a temporary increase to the efficiency dividend from 1.5% to 4%. CPD’s Public Service Reseach Director, James Whelan...
Ben Eltham | Inquiry Bursts Gas Bubble
The Senate inquiry into coal seam gas has issued a remarkable rebuke to drillers and revenue-hungry state governments. What’s even more striking? All political parties agree it’s time to stop, writes Ben Eltham Read...
Developing & Implementing KPIs in Government | 15-16 May
Criterion Conferences will be hosting this conference in Canberra, with the aim of ‘achieving strategic objectives through accountability and performance improvement.’ A recent report by the Australian National Audit Office found that many government...
James Whelan | Government slashes public sector to meet its budget surplus promise
The government will take a knife to the public sector in order to meet its promise of returning the budget to surplus in the next financial year. Releasing the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook...
Ben Eltham | The Golden Road to Surplus
The latest Treasury figures show why Australia’s economy remains the envy of the rich world. It’s another early Christmas bonus for the Gillard Government, writes Ben Eltham. As first published in New Matilda Step...