This report is the latest scorecard on the financial performance of 86 government trading enterprises (GTEs). The report examines the impact on capital management of inadequate compensation for community service obligations and of the persistent poor performance of some GTEs. The 86 GTEs...

The Australian community places significant importance on older people having access to high quality and cost effective aged care services. This is reflected in current institutional and regulatory arrangements, which give considerable weight to achieving equity of access and a minimum...

This research paper which investigated the potential economic and revenue impacts of a National Reform Agenda (NRA) found that the NRA has the potential to significantly raise national output and incomes in Australia. The main purpose of the study was to help governments better understand the...

The objective of this study was to undertake a series of modelling exercises that took advantage of the additional available data to explore the effects of R&D on Australian productivity. However, despite the advances in data and methods, our research was unable to find a consistent robust...

The Productivity Commission’s inquiry report into the ‘Conservation of Australia’s Historic Heritage Places’, was tabled in Parliament on 21 July 2006. The Commission was asked to examine the policy framework and incentives for the conservation of Australia’s historic built heritage...

Many Australian farmers and rural communities have been experiencing hardship from the latest severe and prolonged drought. While this is not new to dryland farming, 'irrigation drought' is uncharted territory. Australia has always had a variable climate, with drought being a recurring feature....

A catalyst for this inquiry was concern that executive pay had got out of hand. This perception was fuelled by practices in financial institutions abroad that were seen as a key contributor to the global financial crisis. Further, while local shareholder value plummeted in 2008 as a result of...

While Australia's consumer policy framework has considerable strengths, parts of it require an overhaul. The current division of responsibility for the framework between the Australian and State and Territory Governments leads to variable outcomes for consumers, added costs for businesses and a...

The Productivity Commission’s inquiry report into ‘Review of Price Regulation of Airport Services’ was tabled in Parliament in April 2007. A price monitoring regime for airport services was introduced at Australia’s seven major mainland airports by the Australian Government following an...

While Australia's consumer policy framework has considerable strengths, parts of it require an overhaul. The current division of responsibility for the framework between the Australian and State and Territory Governments leads to variable outcomes for consumers, added costs for businesses and a...