The Productivity Commission’s inquiry report — Australia’s Urban Water Sector — was released in October 2011. In recent times, the urban water sector has faced drought, growing populations and ageing assets. Governments have largely responded with prolonged and severe water restrictions...

This Productivity Commission research report, released on 16 May 2011, has identified wide-ranging differences in the ways all levels of government plan and zone land uses and assess development proposals.<p> In Performance Benchmarking of Australian Business Regulation: Planning, Zoning and...</p>

The Australian Government now has institutions and arrangements in place to identify areas of regulation that are unduly burdensome or ineffective and to develop appropriate reforms. However, the Productivity Commission research report, released 15 December 2011, indicated there was a need to...

This inquiry report was released on 23 June 2010. Gambling was substantially liberalised in most Australian states and territories in the 1990s. Subsequent years saw not only a surge in gambling expenditure and industry growth, but also adverse impacts on many Australians and their families. The...

A report released by the Productivity Commission — Performance Benchmarking of Australian Business Regulation: Occupational Health and Safety — has identified significant differences in regulation and in the actions of regulators across the jurisdictions that are hard to justify. <p> While OHS...</p>

There are significant differences in the way water rights are defined, allocated and administered in Australia and overseas. This paper includes comparisons of the arrangements for managing water rights against accepted best practice principles for South Au stralia, Queensland, NSW, Victoria...