Politics with Michelle Grattan
News:Politics
Danielle Wood is the CEO of the Grattan Institute, an independent think tank, Its purpose is to research and advocate policies to improve Australians’ lives.
Wood laments the dearth of policy debate in this election.
“There was a lot of optimism when we were coming out of COVID that this might be a period of genuine policy reform. It certainly was a period that laid bare a lot of challenges. We saw trust in government go up and there was a lot of talk of building back better in the sense that government might do some of those big things. But clearly, that’s not the election we’re in right now,” she says.
“We are now in a world where we’ve come out of COVID with government much bigger than what we went in. So we’ve baked in this higher spending on aged care, higher spending on defence, a higher spending on the NDIS.
"In fact, size of governments increase about 2% of GDP, which is pretty extraordinary. Yet we’ve had no conversation about how we pay for that.”
Climate change is to the fore in the minds of many economists as well as voters, and a central feature of “teal” candidates’ campaigns. But the government and Labor are not talking about it a great deal in the campaign.
“I think it’s really interesting to see economists so galvanised by that. We need to get on the path to net zero by 2050. Both major parties have signed on to that as a target. That is a massive economic transition. And frankly, if we don’t start making serious headway over the next decade, we’re going to leave ourselves with a very large and very disruptive task through the 2030s and forties.”
Anthony Albanese this week found himself under attack after advocating a 5.1% rise (reflecting the latest inflation figure) in the minimum wage. Wood says: “Locking in very high wage rises right now is not the right answer. But that’s not to say that wages growing at 2% is a good answer either. So it’s somewhere in between.”
Australia needs to increase productivity, but where should the focus be? “I would like to see a focus on education. There are things we can do in health as well, such as primary care reform, which could make a big difference […] And remember, that’s a big area in the economy and spending.”
Should we be more worried than we are about Australia’s debt level? “I’m not worried about the current levels of debt in terms of sustainability. Obviously we’ve come out of COVID with much higher debt levels than we went in with. But based on at least the current interest profile, it’s very serviceable and sustainable.”
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Former climate minister Greg Combet on Australia’s mission to reach net-zero
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Economist Chris Richardson on a likely interest rate rise and the fall in living standards
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Don Farrell’s high noon for European free trade deal, and hopes for lobster exports to China
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Kim Beazley on Albanese’s US trip, Biden in the Middle East, and the Voice’s defeat
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Middle East expert Ian Parmeter on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Greens Jordon Steele-John on the disability royal commission and Bill Shorten’s NDIS reforms
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Treasurer Jim Chalmers on jobs and work
Word from The Hill: Assessing Daniel Andrews, the extraordinary Pezzullo story, senators give Qantas chiefs a hard time
Politics with Michelle Grattan: ANU Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt on the challenges universities face
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Asia expert Richard McGregor on Anthony Albanese’s coming visit to China
Word from The Hill: Danielle Wood to head Productivity Commission, Alan Joyce bows to public anger, PM jets off again
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Battle of The Voice - Yes23 campaign director Dean Parkin and former deputy prime minister John Anderson
Word from The Hill: Date for Voice referendum to be announced on Wednesday
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Labor president Wayne Swan on the party’s coming national conference
Word from The Hill: Double dissolution hot air, PM dodging Treaty question, Morrison hit with counter punch after Robodebt speech
Politics with Michelle Grattan: ‘yes’ campaigner Thomas Mayo and ‘no’ advocate Derryn Hinch on the Voice
Politics with Michelle Grattan: ACCI Head Andrew McKellar on industrial relations and boosting Australia’s productivity
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Battle of the Voice – Greens senator Dorinda Cox & Liberal senator Kerrynne Liddle
Word from The Hill: On ditching the Commonwealth Games, the Voice pamphlet, Labor’s factions
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Michele Bullock’s appointment as Reserve Bank Governor
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