National affairs
20 June 2025
Jim Chalmers wants to “test the appetite” for more ambitious productivity reforms
National affairs
3 June 2025
Growing wealth inequality is setting Australia up for conflict, but solutions aren’t out of reach
National affairs
15 April 2025
Peter Dutton’s housing announcement exposes the inconsistency in the opposition’s thinking
National affairs
26 March 2025
The 2025–26 budget had one modest surprise, but leaves a lot to the next parliament (and probably parliaments after that)
National affairs
27 January 2024
How the government can build on what’s been a good month
Books & arts
20 December 2023
Why would high earners have a mistaken view of where they sit on the income ladder?
National affairs
30 November 2023
Alan Kohler meets the ghost of Bob Menzies in the latest Quarterly Essay
National affairs
7 November 2023
The outgoing Grattan Institute chief executive strikes an optimistic note in this year’s Freebairn Lecture
National affairs
13 October 2023
The federal government has set a target of 1.2 million new homes in five years. Discussions at the National Housing Conference revealed the scale of the challenge
National affairs
4 September 2023
Fears about the impact of increasing longevity haven’t aged well
National affairs
24 April 2023
Steady-as-she-goes government is unequal to Australia’s challenges
National affairs
3 March 2023
Does the timing of the government’s superannuation tax reforms make any electoral sense?
National affairs
14 October 2022
A grown-up conversation about how we fund better services is long overdue
National affairs
6 September 2022
One big, vital issue was missing from the Jobs and Skills Summit
National affairs
9 November 2021
Australia needs holistic tax reform for the post-Covid-19 era
Essays & reportage
14 October 2021
Why is Australia among the few Western countries that don’t tax inheritances?
National affairs
27 August 2021
Timid governments need shaking up — but the pressure won’t come from the top
National affairs
27 July 2021
A hardening of shibboleths is eating away at good government
National affairs
22 July 2021
Submissions to the Victorian royal commission add to a powerful case against the once-burgeoning company
National affairs
24 May 2021
Concerns that the government’s post-pandenic debt will need to be repaid by future generations don’t stack up
National affairs
21 May 2021
Despite a booming state economy, the Victorian government plans even more stimulus
National affairs
12 May 2021
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and his colleagues have avoided hard decisions about how the government taxes and spends
National affairs
21 April 2021
Does focusing on the gender gap in retirement incomes miss the bigger picture?
National affairs
12 April 2021
US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen is proposing a global minimum corporate tax rate. Criticisms of her long-overdue plan don’t stack up
National affairs
22 March 2021
Labor is under pressure to wave through tax cuts that will make the tax system less progressive — and don’t stack up economically
National affairs
5 February 2021
The superannuation guarantee shouldn’t rise until the system is made fairer
National affairs
12 October 2020
The assumption that Australia will experience a quick recovery has produced a budget that’s big on spending but low on stimulus
National affairs
2 October 2020
By 2030, according to the government’s own figures, Australia will have spent three decades making almost no progress in reducing emissions
National affairs
7 September 2020
The proposed tax cuts are a weak form of stimulus that would create more problems than they solve. There are better options
National affairs
1 June 2020
Breaking self-perpetuating cycles of rising inequality will be key to Australia’s economic recovery