Anthony Albanese writes and signs a “No Change To WA GST” pledge on the arm of West Australian reporter Dylan Caporn in February 2024.

The streets of Western Australia are paved with GST gold

A wrong-headed GST deal to bail out Western Australia continues to skew the system.

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Illustration by Dionne Gain

Life is a highway,and Australia is stuck in second gear

If the Australian economy were a car,it would be Volkswagen bus. But if our living standards are to improve,it needs to purr like a Lamborghini.

  • Shane Wright
Productivity across housing construction has fallen over the past 30 years with the time to build a home skyrocketing.

Slow home building holds back Australia as Reserve Bank meets to consider rates cut

Ground-breaking research shows a huge blowout in the time it takes to build houses and apartments,as the Reserve Bank deliberates on interest rates.

  • Shane Wright
Treasurer Jim Chalmers.

A strong cup of coffee could solve our productivity problem

It’s been a problem since the GFC,and now the Productivity Commission is taking a new approach to economic solutions:crowdsourcing.

  • Shane Wright
Peter Dutton during question time last week.

‘There is no case for it’:Dutton’s visa plan could cost $2.5b

Public policy academics,former Immigration Department bosses and the Productivity Commission all say the plan to bring back the “significant investor visa” is a bad one.

  • David Crowe
It’s embarrassing to be going to war over hair colour and dress codes in schools – chiefly because they don’t matter.

The bank of nan and pop has undermined the fair go

Jordan Baker’s article about the growing ubiquity of the bank of nan and pop in the payment of school fees should make us very concerned about the direction our society has decided to follow.

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America and Australia tell a tale of two pandemics,and their political outcomes

While Australians challenged fireworks cancellations last week,the richest man in the world was busy lobbying America’s president-elect for a shutdown.

  • Sean Kelly

The nation has lost its horsepower. Why? Because our leaders are too scared to act

The mid-year economic update is a dismal portrait of a mediocre nation,but both sides of politics are culpable.

  • David Crowe
Privacy for renters has emerged as a growing issue after high-profile data breaches involving real estates.

Qld real estate lobby calls for probe into ‘onslaught’ of tenancy law changes

The body wants a proposed productivity commission to review the social and economic impacts of a swathe of rental reforms.

  • Matt Dennien
The prime minister will build on the government’s childcare agenda with a promise to end the activity test.

Albanese signs up to $1.3b childcare fix economists have recommended for years

Anthony Albanese went to the 2022 election promising childcare fee relief. On Wednesday,he will promise more assistance as part of a second-term plan.

  • Shane Wright