Centre for Policy Development's Blog, page 65
August 15, 2013
ABC The Drum | 15 August 2013
Back to the Northern foodbowl?
Miriam engages Nick Minchin on agricultural & economic policy.
Libs are witholding their costings, but do anyone’s sums add up? And should the PM be touting company tax breaks which echo LNP policies, and could have unintended side-effects for a vulnerable economy in the Northern Territory?
In this episode of The Drum, Kevin Rudd titillates the Top End with the promise of tax cuts, question marks hang over the Coalition’s direct action scheme, and Peter Slipper vows to continue his political career.
Annabel Crabb hosts a panel of Miriam Lyons, former Liberal Finance Minister Nick Minchin and journalist and author Aaron Patrick.
Watch the episode on the ABC website
Help us fill public debates with more good ideas and less ‘kneejerkery’–
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August 14, 2013
Pushing our luck UPCOMING BOOK publishing schedule
Where and when to get your copy of Pushing our luck: ideas for Australian progress
StartSomeGood crowd funding campaign: LIVE – support CPD’s publishing project NOW and help us get the good ideas out there!
28 Aug: pre-election e-book released - BUY NOW & get a pre-election e-book on release plus a revised e-book after the election
1 Sept: – Philanthropy Forum – presentation by Miriam Lyons
16 Sept: Anglicare Australia National Conference, Brisbane – presentation by Miriam Lyons
17 Sept: revised, post-election e-book launched with panel discussion at Avid Reader bookstore, Brisbane
24 Sept: hard-copy book released – launch event TBA (Sydneysiders watch this space!)
2 Oct: Festival of Ideas, Melbourne – presentation by Miriam Lyons
18 Oct: NUW Anti-Poverty Week event, Melbourne, speeches by Miriam Lyons & Lisa Heap
7-8 Nov: Progress 2013, Melbourne – ‘ Pushing our luck : Australia’s economic future’ panel discussion
For now, read more here under Pushing our luck, check (& like) our Facebook page for more news, and support the book project on StartSomeGood
Crikey | 6 August 2013
Will important health issues be on the agenda?
Jennifer Doggett, CPD fellow and author of the chapter ‘Getting better: Prescriptions for a holistic health system’ in upcoming book Pushing our Luck, has added to the discussion on healthcare in the lead-up to the election. In her article Jennifer sums up six areas of health policy that we won’t be hearing about from our major parties, and explains why these issues should be addressed. Croakey, the Crikey health blog will be focusing on policies for the rest of the election campaign:
“We’re off the blocks, out of the gate, hitting the road and [insert sporting cliché of choice] in the race to determine the next government of Australia. Over the course of the campaign Croakey looks forward to bringing you some insightful commentary and critiques of the policies the parties will bring to the election table and analysis of what this might mean for our health system. We welcome and look forward to your contributions and feedback as well in what we hope will be stimulating and diverse coverage which goes beyond the narrow focus of the mainstream media.”
Improving Australia’s healthcare services demands structural changes, in Pushing our Luck Jennifer describes how we can create a ‘best-case scenario’ for healthcare.
Read the article at Crikey
Support the release of Pushing our Luck on StartSomeGood
The Greens food plan draws on CPD research
Greens leader Christine Milne launched ‘Our Food Future’ last week with an online discussion answering questions live. Viewers were able to post questions in a forum with Imogen Birley, staff member to Christine Milne, who answered questions that were not addressed in the live broadcast. During the discussion Imogen Birley brought up CPD’s report from last November Farming Smarter, Not Harder
“Centre for Policy Development produced a great report “Farming Smarter Not Harder” – which give some excellent ideas on how we implement more R&D, restore soil, support farmers”
CPD will be releasing follow up research next month from Farming Smarter, Not Harder
Download Farming Smarter, Not Harder report in full
Watch the broadcast or read the discussion with Imogen Birley
August 12, 2013
The Guardian Australia | 12 August 2013
Greg Jericho’s article in The Guardian Australia focuses on Prof Roy Green’s chapter in CPD’s forthcoming book for election 2013 Pushing our luck. Roy’s chapter in turn looks closely at the real meaning of productivity.
In the remaining four weeks of the campaign the economic argument needs to move beyond the slogans and the suggestions that things can be fixed with a couple tax changes. With luck, the “Pushing our Luck” essays may help push the debate towards a more complex discussion.
As the column notes, the chapter resonates with other recent CPD reports such as Death by a thousand cuts, which examined the counter-productive impulse to reduce capacity in public services, in the expectation of higher output from the remaining resources.
Access the ‘Grogonomics’ column on Guardian.com
August 11, 2013
Pushing our luck live on StartSomeGood
Visit the Pushing our luck page on StartSomeGood – http://startsomegood.com/pushingourluck
CPD wants to help inform the debate during the election and beyond. Buy a copy of Pushing our luck – CPD’s new book of key policy ideas from leading progressive thinkers, and we will send another copy to an MP or senator in the next government, or to a member of the Canberra press gallery.
StartSomeGood rewards include postcards and prints by Fiona Katauskas, t-shirts and a priceless chance to make a difference to the Australian political discourse.
August 10, 2013
D!ssent | Number 42, Spring 2013
‘A new approach to health funding’ by CPD fellows and Pushing our luck authors Jennifer Doggett and Ian McAuley…
In this article, Jennifer and Ian find health care funding to be one of few remaining areas of division between Australia’s two main political parties. The article compares the long-standing ideological battle between universal free healthcare and subsidised private insurance, to the Hundred Years War, exploring both the ‘left’ and ‘right’ positions over time.
Each side in the conflict has tried to hold ground, supported by strong beliefs. As is the case with so many long-enduring conflicts, the protagonists get bogged down into rigid ‘positions’. They lose sight of their original principles and objectives and therefore they lose sight of opportunities for solutions which may satisfy both sides’ principles.
The article goes on to propose a potential solution, wherein Medicare is redefined as a ‘genuine insurer (rather than a co-funder)’ of health services, so as to retain both the benefits of personal responsibility, and universality and equity within the public health system.
D!ssent subscribers read the article online
August 6, 2013
APN Group newspapers | 5 August 2013
‘Public sector cuts are killing the country’
Death by a thousand cuts examines how blind, across-the-board cuts can have detrimental effects on productivity. Authors Christopher Stone, CPD research director, and Kathy MacDermott, industrial relations policy expert, have found that regional areas are the hardest hit by public sector cuts in the new report which looks at cases in Western Australia and on a federal level.
“Reflecting on recent cuts in Western Australia and the federal public sector, the CPD recommends that governments stop “avoiding responsibility” for service shortfalls when making budget savings by announcing across the board cuts rather than looking at specific services which could be reduced.”
Read the article at the Sunshine Coast Daily and find out more from Death by a thousand cuts.
The article was also published on APN sites Bundaberg News-Mail, Coffs Coast Advocate, Clarence Valley Daily Examiner, Fraser Coast Chronicle, Ipswich Queensland Times, Mackay Daily Mercury, My Daily News, Northern Star, Rockhampton Morning Bulletin, Toowoomba Chronicle, Warwick Daily News, Ballina Shire Advocate, Byron Shire News, Caboolture News, Central Telegraph, Coolum & North Shore News, CQ News, Northern Rivers Echo, Gatton Star, Ipswich Advertiser, Noosa News, Range News, South Burnett Times, Stanthorpe Border Post, Surat Basin Online, The Reporter, The Satellite, and Whitsunday Times.
August 5, 2013
WA today | 6 August 2013
A blunt instrument unveiled, CPD is on the ball.Across-the-board cuts made blindly are not the kind of tactic that improves productivity. Rising to 2.25 per cent the inflated efficiency dividend as announced in the governments economic statement is an example of ‘blunt instrument’ methods CPD’s latest report argues against.
In Death by a thousand cuts: how governments undermine their own productivity, co-authors CPD research director Christopher Stone and industrial relations policy expert Kathy MacDermott examine how across-board-cuts reduce productivity, stifle innovation and damage government institutions.
“The report examines the trend, in Australia and elsewhere, of governments’ evading ”responsibility for service cuts from budget savings by applying across-the-board cuts rather than identifying the services” that should end.”
Read the WA today article from ‘Public Eye’
ABC News | 5 August 2013
Christopher Stone, CPD research director, and Kathy MacDermott, industrial relations policy expert, released Death by a thousand cuts: How governments undermine their own productivity which outlines how public services in regional areas are the hardest hit from budget cuts. With increasing expectations public sector workers are experiencing increasing workloads without additional staff.
“It cites the Department of Child Protection, where there has been a three-fold increase in the number of cases to be investigated across its 8 metropolitan and 32 country district offices. CPSU president Toni Walkington says the regions struggle to absorb cutbacks. ”We are seeing many children being left without case workers whether that be in juvenile justice or child protection,” she said.”
Read the article on the ABC News website
Read more about ‘productivity’ in CPD’s report Death by a thousand cuts
Help us counter evidence-free attempts to downsize and privatise our public services –
Become an Ideas Sustainer.
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