Grattan Institute

A conversation with Health Program Director Stephen Duckett and Senior Associate Matt Cowgill. Australia should introduce a Medicare-style universal insurance scheme for dental care, so all Australians can go to the dentist when they need to. It would cost $5.6 billion a year and should be phased in over 10 years.

A conversation with Senior Associate Kate Griffiths and Associate Carmela Chivers. Once a year, the Commonwealth releases information on Australia’s political donations system – who donates to political parties and how much? The data isn’t timely but the information contained in this data dump does give clues as to who is funding Australian democracy and who our political parties are most reliant on.  Read the article in The Conversation on the 2019 data release: https://grattan.edu.au/report/whos-in-the-room/ Read the report Who's in the Room? Access and influence in Australian politics: https://grattan.edu.au/news/tasmanias-gambling-election-shows-australia-needs-tougher-rules-on-money-in-politics/

Event Podcast: In this Forward Thinking event, Grattan Institute’s budget, energy, and transport and cities experts considered the issues in their policy area and nominate the choices that would really make a difference to NSW’s future. The discussion drew on Grattan’s State Orange Book, which identifies policy priorities for state and territory governments across the nation.

Event podcast: Two million Australians delay or miss out on dental care each year because of cost. What should be done? Part of the answer is improving the value of existing public dental services. But part of the answer is that the Commonwealth should expand its role and establish a universal dental scheme paralleling Medicare. This Policy Pitch heard about both of these approaches.

Event podcast: 200,000 Victorian customers lost power on 25 January 2019, begging the question: is this the new normal? To answer this question, Grattan Institute's Guy Dundas was joined at this Policy Pitch event by Paul Austin from the Australian Energy Market Operator, the body that manages the electricity market, and Suzanne Falvi from the Australian Energy Market Commission, the body that sets the energy market rules.

A conversation with Energy Fellow Guy Dundas and Senior Associate Lucy Percival. The idea that electricity supply is less reliable with more renewables is wrong. Almost all outages are caused by problems in transporting electricity, and have nothing to do with how the power was generated. It’s also a dangerous idea, because if politicians panic and intervene in the market, power bills could rise even higher.

Event podcast: At this Capital Ideas event, moderator, ANU Energy Change Institute Director Ken Baldwin and our panel, Grattan Institute’s Tony Wood, Warwick McKibbin from ANU and the BCA’s Jessica Wilson discussed if there is any prospect of credible energy and climate change policy in Australia before the next election.

Event podcast: Every year Grattan Institute releases a summer reading list for the Prime Minister. It recommends books and articles that the Prime Minister, or any Australian interested in public debate, will find both stimulating and cracking good reads. Melbourne-based journalist Madeleine Morris joined Grattan Institute CEO John Daley in Melbourne to discuss how this year’s titles illuminate some of Australia’s most important debates.

A conversation with CEO John Daley and Fellow Brendan Coates. The conventional wisdom that Australians don’t save enough for retirement is wrong. The vast majority of retirees today are financially comfortable, and our modelling shows this is likely to be true for most in future. This has big implications for policy.

Event podcast: Following the release of our State Orange Book 2018, this Policy Pitch event, featuring a number of Grattan Institute Fellows and Program Directors, examined some of the policy recommendations from ten years of Grattan Institute reports and outline what state and territory governments should do to improve Australia