Grattan Institute

A conversation with School Education Fellow, Julie Sonnemann. The Commonwealth should not use the extra money it is spending on schools as an excuse to intervene in school education. The danger is that the 'Gonski 2.0 Review' could be used as a platform for Commonwealth interventions that sound good, but don't actually help on the ground.

A conversation with School Education Program Director Pete Goss. The "gap" between Indigenous and other school students is even bigger than official figures show. Grattan research reveals that Year 9 Indigenous students in very remote areas are five years behind in numeracy, six years behind in reading, and seven-to-eight years behind in writing. Even in the cities and regions - where most Indigenous students live - the gap is three to four years by Year 9.

A conversation with Health Program Director, Stephen Duckett. One in nine patients who go into hospital suffers a complication, and the risk varies dramatically depending on the hospital. An extra 250,000 patients would leave hospital complication-free each year if all hospitals lifted their performance to match the best 10 per cent of hospitals. A Grattan Institute Report Podcast.

A conversation with Health Program Director Stephen Duckett and Fellow Hal Swerissen. February 1, 2018 marks the 34th anniversary of the beginning of Medicare. How did it begin, how has it been used politically and what challenges will it continue to face?

A conversation with Energy Fellow, David Blowers. Australia’s electricity sector is in crisis, or something close to it. But electricity shortages are just one part of the story - for most Australians a more visible and perhaps crucial part of this crisis is our ever-increasing electricity bills and everyone wants to blame someone else for the problem. Is there a single factor responsible for our electricity pricing woes? Or is the story more complex than that? Discussed on the podcast this week: David Blowers, A high price for policy failure: the ten-year story of spiralling electricity bills, January 2018 https://grattan.edu.au/news/a-high-price-for-policy-failure-the-ten-year-story-of-spiralling-electricity-bills/ Wood, T., Blowers, D., and Moran, G. Price shock: is the retail electricity market failing consumers?, 2017 https://grattan.edu.au/report/price-shock/

A conversation with Australian Perspectives fellow, Brendan Coates and Associate Trent Wiltshire. Unsurprisingly, housing affordability continues to remain in focus for media, politicians and researchers. In recent weeks, two papers have been released discussing regional housing supply and demand in Australia and housing accessibility for first home buyers. Here are the papers discussed on the podcast this week: Gianni La Cava, Hannah Leal and Andrew Zurawski, Housing Accessibility for First Home Buyers, RBA Bulletin December Quarter 2017 http://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2017/dec/pdf/bu-1217-3-housing-accessibility-for-first-home-buyers.pdf Ben Phillips and Cukkoo Joseph, Regional Housing Supply and Demand in Australia Regional Housing Supply and Demand in Australia, 2017 http://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/research/publications/regional-housing-supply-and-demand-australia Also discussed in the podcast this week: Ong, Dalton, Gurran, Phelps, Rowley, Wood, Housing supply responsiveness in Australia: distribution, drivers and institutional settings, May 2017 https://www.ahuri.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/13242/AHURI-Final-Report-281-Housing-supply-responsiveness-in-Australia-distribution-drivers-and-institutional-settings.pdf Brendan Coates, Presentation to National Housing Conference: Tax reform alone won’t solve the housing affordability crisis, 30 November 2017 https://grattan.edu.au/news/tax-reform-alone-wont-solve-the-housing-affordability-crisis/

Event podcast: at this Policy Pitch event, Grattan Institute launched our annual Summer Reading List for the Prime Minister at the State Library Victoria. Melbourne broadcaster Sally Warhaft 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 Grattan Program Director Jim Minifie, Senior Associate Cameron Chisholm and Associate Lucy Percival. The widely held belief that powerful firms control the Australian economy is a myth. But where a few firms dominate markets, such as in the supermarket and banking sectors, they earn higher profits.

Event podcast: This Forward Thinking event explored the widening economic and social divide between Australia’s cities and regions. What are the economic forces at play? What are the effects on the social fabric of the nation? And what if anything should governments do to bridge the divide?

A conversation with School Education Program Director, Pete Goss. Australia’s school education system is not fit for purpose, and we need to rethink the way we teach students, support teachers and run schools. To halt the decline, we should make the system more adaptive.