Negative gearing is back on the table with Jim Chalmers asking Treasury to model changes to property tax breaks. It's not a new proposal for Labor, with tax reform a hot political issue in the 2019 election. But at any mention of changes to negative gearing, landlords immediately voice concerns about losing income and having to sell up. Tenants raise issues about increasing rents. And first home buyers wonder if this will worsen their chances of getting into the market. In this podcast episode, housing experts Brendan Coates and Matthew Bowes make the case for curbing negative gearing and the ..read more

This month, Claudia Goldin made history for being the third woman to win the Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences. As much as this is an outcome to be celebrated as a milestone for women in economics, as an economist, Goldin has shifted the world’s understanding of women’s labour market outcomes. Her influential research examines the reasons for the gender pay gap, and the educational, medical, and cultural progressions which prevent – or enable – women to work. The recent introduction of paid parental leave changes to the House of Representatives is just one way to increase women’s workforce par ..read more

Nuclear energy is a hotly contested topic for the upcoming election, with both sides of politics looking for a plan that enables Australia to hit net zero emissions by 2050 while maintaining an affordable, reliable energy supply. Peter Dutton has declared nuclear a central piece of the Coalition's energy plan, but with the policy light on details, there's a lot of questions left behind. What would a nuclear future look like for Australia? Does it help or hinder the pursuit of net zero? And is it cost effective for Australian taxpayers? All these questions - and more - are answered in this week ..read more

Gambling is everywhere. And Australia's lax approach to gambling regulation shows. We have the highest gambling losses in the world. While the federal government is considering banning gambling advertising in the wake of the Murphy Inquiry, Grattan's latest report makes the case for more regulation to minimise gambling harm in Australia. In this special podcast, authors Kate Griffiths and Elizabeth Baldwin discuss their report, A better bet: How Australia should prevent gambling harm, with host Kat Clay. Read the gambling report: https://grattan.edu.au/report/a-better-bet-how-australia-should ..read more

The National Disability Insurance Scheme is failing many Australians with profound disability. More than 43,000 people with intensive support packages are seeing little benefit from a scheme that was supposed to give them greater choice and improved independence. Last year's reports from the Disability Royal Commission and the NDIS review called for significant reform and a wider range of housing and support services. But neither report provided a clear and detailed roadmap to improve people's safety and give them alternate options. And the federal government's recent response to the Disabilit ..read more

The 2024 NAPLAN school test results show one in three Australian students are not on track with their learning. The results also reveal deep inequities in Australian schools. Indigenous children, children from disadvantaged families, and children from regional and remote areas are falling years behind their more advantaged peers as they move through school. In this special Grattan Podcast, our NAPLAN specialists Amy Haywood and Nick Parkinson identify why students are performing so poorly, and what governments should do to turn this around so all young Australians gain the literacy and numerac ..read more

Over the past two years, it's been hard to see an end to interest rate rises. Homeowners have been slogged with one mortgage increase after another.   Despite a couple of months of calm, another potential rate rise is looming on the horizon, with the imminent release of inflation data and a meeting of the RBA in early August.  Kat Clay and Trent Wiltshire, Deputy Program Director Economic Prosperity, discuss whether the interest rates will ever go down again, or if homeowner hell will keep going for a long time to come. Donate to Grattan: https://grattan.edu.au/donate ..read more

Vaccines save lives. Yet the likelihood an older Australian is vaccinated varies hugely by GP. For some GPs, 90 per cent of older patients are vaccinated for flu. For others, only 40 per cent are vaccinated. For COVID, shingles and pneumococcal, the gap is even bigger. In this podcast, Peter Breadon, Health Program Director, and Anika Stobart, the Senior Associate, discuss their new report, Patchy protection: How to boost GPs' patient vaccination rates. Hosted by Kat Clay. Read the report: https://grattan.edu.au/report/patchy-protection/ Read the 2023 report: https://grattan.edu.au/report/a-fa ..read more

This week, the NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey handed down his second budget since Labor took office. At the same time, the NSW government is facing rising inflation and cost of living, increased public sector wage expenditure, and the worst of Australia’s housing crisis. Find out whether the 2024 NSW Budget tackled these key issues - and more - in this podcast with Grattan CEO Aruna Sathanapally and Deputy Program Director Kate Griffiths ..read more

The federal government's 2030 emissions reduction target is under serious threat. Under the International Paris Agreement, Australia has committed to reduce its emissions to 43 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. But the government is not currently on track to meet these levels. It's led some members of the Opposition to call for Australia to abandon the Paris Agreement. But even if Australia can't meet these ambitious targets it has set, should it abandon the agreement? In this podcast, Kat Clay and energy expert Tony Wood discuss why Australia is not on track to meet their emissions reductio ..read more