Grattan Institute

With tight housing supply in Australia, it’s a landlord’s market, and renters are queuing out the door in a fight to get a lease. But what’s driving this rental nightmare? Is it inflation? Housing availability? The Phillip Lowe effect? This rental nightmare raises even bigger questions for Australia: whether we can fix housing. Because the impacts aren’t just on buildings – there are very real effects on tenants, especially women, seniors, and low-income earners. Listen to host Kat Clay, in conversation with Trent Wiltshire, Deputy Program Director and Joey Moloney, Senior Associate, about what's causing Australia's nightmare rental market, and whether we can fix it.

If you step into a newly built school these days, chances are they look very different to your childhood classroom. Instead of a standard classroom with four walls, you’re likely find a large room that contains two or three classes, with no wall to separate them, and ample room for teachers and students to move between the ‘classroom’ spaces. Listen to host Kat Clay in conversation with Senior Associate Anika Stobart, and Education Researcher Brigitte Garbin, about how open-plan classrooms might be harming our children's learning. Read the article discussed: https://grattan.edu.au/news/faddish-classroom-design-may-be-harming-our-children/

It’s a long way to the top if you want to reform the Australian health system. Prime Minister Albanese has promised an Australian Centre for Disease Control, and it’s the subject of our new report ACDC: Highway to health. While the call for an ACDC comes out of the wake of the pandemic, you’d be forgiven for thinking its role is to deal with infection control. But Grattan's report focusses on the ACDC’s role to prevent chronic diseases. Report authors Peter Breadon, Program Director, and Lachie Fox, Associate, discuss the broader role of the ACDC with host Kat Clay. Read the report: https://grattan.edu.au/report/acdc-highway-to-health/

Fuel tax – you might not know much about it, but winding back the 8 billion a year in fuel tax credits given to businesses could reduce the budget deficit by 4 billion dollars. Listen as host Kat Clay, interviews Marion Terrill, Transport and Cities Program Director, and Natasha Bradshaw, Associate, on their latest report, Fuelling budget repair: How to reform fuel taxes for business. Read the report: https://grattan.edu.au/report/fuelling-budget-repair/

A small crack in children’s foundational learning can be exacerbated as the years go on. Unless it’s addressed quickly, children get stuck in a vicious cycle, falling further and further behind their counterparts. Which is where small-group tuition comes in. Featuring host Kat Clay, with Julie Sonnemann, Principal Advisor, and Anika Stobart, Senior Associate. Read the report: https://grattan.edu.au/report/tackling-under-achievement/

Listen to Grattan CEO Danielle Wood in conversation with renowned journalist Eleanor Hall, as they discuss Grattan's top six thought-provoking, compelling, and relevant books from 2022. It’s been an extraordinary year, and these are extraordinary reads – not only for the Prime Minister, but for all Australians interested in public policy. Danielle and Eleanor were introduced by the CEO of State Library Victoria, Paul Duldig, and joined by the authors of three of these wonderful books, Debra Dank, Sam Vincent, and Jessica Au. The Grattan Institute 2022 Summer Reading List for the Prime Minister is: Career & Family: Women’s Century-Long Journey toward Equity – Claudia Goldin We Come With This Place – Debra Dank My Father and Other Animals – Sam Vincent Cold Enough for Snow – Jessica Au Buried Treasure – Jo Chandler (in the Griffith Review) Healing: Our path from mental illness to mental health – Thomas Insel Read more about the books: https://grattan.edu.au/news/announcing-grattan-institutes-2022-prime-ministers-summer-reading-list/ Purchase the books from Readings: https://www.readings.com.au/collections/grattan-institute-prime-ministers-summer-reading-list-2022#

It’s hard to believe that Australia’s universal healthcare system, Medicare, is almost forty years old. Over that time, Australians’ health needs have changed significantly. We’ve got an ageing population, and mental illness and chronic disease are on the rise. GPs’ work is more complex – and Medicare hasn’t kept up. Our latest report, A new Medicare: Strengthening general practice, calls on Government to overhaul a system that is reaching a mid-life crisis. Host Kat Clay is joined by the authors of the report, Health Program Director, Peter Breadon, and Visiting Fellow Danielle Romanes, to discuss how to strengthen general practice in Australia.

The Safeguard Mechanism is a key policy in Australia’s fight against climate change, which caps emissions from big industrial facilities and other large polluters. Greenhouse gas emitters, from LNG platforms to mines to airlines, must keep their emissions below a baseline, or pay. Now it faces reform, as the Albanese government has committed to amend the mechanism, to meet the 2030 target of cutting emissions to 43% below 2005 levels. But as ever, the devil is in the detail. Host Kat Clay is joined by Alison Reeve, Deputy Program Director, and Esther Suckling, Associate, to discuss the Safeguard Mechanism design issues facing the government. Read the Safeguard Mechanism reform paper: https://storage.googleapis.com/converlens-au-industry/industry/p/prj2135e8da0cf17d76c70fc/public_assets/Safeguard-Mechanism-consultation-paper.PDF For more information, visit: https://grattan.edu.au/

It won’t come as a surprise to the mums listening to this podcast, but there’s a price to pay for being a mother. Whether it’s the countless extra hours of unpaid labour, losing out on a promotion because you’ve got to pick the kids up from school, or even choosing to work part-time, this all has an enormous impact on lifetime earnings for Australian mothers. In this podcast, Kat Clay interviews Natasha Bradshaw, co-author of a Treasury paper on children and the gender earnings gap, alongside Owain Emslie, Grattan senior associate, on his policy recommendations to reduce the motherhood penalty. Read the Treasury paper: https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-10/p2022-325290-children-gender-gap.pdf Read Dad Days: https://grattan.edu.au/report/dad-days/ Read Cheaper Childcare: https://grattan.edu.au/report/cheaper-childcare/ Donate to Grattan: https://grattan.edu.au/donate/

One of the biggest announcements of the October federal Budget was the National Housing Accord, with the goal to build one million new, well-located homes over five years from 2024. Host Kat Clay and Economic Policy Program Director, Brendan Coates, discuss this ambitious goal, and how it could ease the housing crisis. For more information, visit: https://grattan.edu.au/