Energy policy has played a central role in the removal of another Australian Prime Minister, highlighting our inability to integrate energy and environmental policy. What policies and market structure do we need in this new world and how will they balance energy prices, reliability and emissions? Our panel of experts, including Chloe Munro, Ross Garnaut and Michael Brear, threw light on these questions in the final Future Energy Series of public policy forums for 2018.

Event podcast: this Policy Pitch event looked at the different ways special interest groups – including business, unions and not-for-profits – seek influence over policy. Do political donations buy access? Which groups lobby the most? And who spends the most on public campaigns?

Event podcast: This Forward Thinking event looked at the different ways special interest groups – including business, unions and not-for-profits – seek influence over policy. Do political donations buy access? Which groups lobby the most? And who spends the most on public campaigns?

A conversation with School Education Program Director, Peter Goss on school funding. Do state schools get a fair go? How much should governments give to non-government schools? And how can we assess ‘fairness’ amid all these competing demands and all this heated politics?

A conversation with Health Program Director, Stephen Duckett. A new Code of Conduct for doctors has been drafted by the Medical Board of Australia. Entitled Good Medical Practice it covers issues for the medical profession in Australia such as the fees they charge, the way they deal with patients, and the ethics they practice. But have they got it right?

A conversation with Stephen Duckett on his latest report. Australia could save $1.5 billion a year on health spending by improving the safety of patient care. Safer hospital care doesn’t just reduce harm to patients, it saves money for taxpayers and frees up beds so other patients can be treated.

A conversation with Senior Associate, Greg Moran. Understanding the size of the costs of complications is important because it can help show that investing in patient safety can actually improve the bottom line. We discuss Grattan’s recent work estimating the costs of hospital complications and some of the challenges involved in this analysis.

Event podcast: At this Policy Pitch event, Dr Amanda Kenny, the Violet Marshman Professor of Rural Health at La Trobe University and Dr Hal Swerissen, Fellow, Grattan Institute discussed the state of play for primary care in Australia and options and recommendations for the future.

A conversation with Hal Swerissen and Stephen Duckett on their latest report. Primary care policy needs an overhaul to ensure all Australians, especially the poor and the elderly, get the best possible health care. Many poorer Australians can't afford to go to a GP when they need to or a dentist when they should, and people in rural and remote areas find it too hard to get to a pharmacist or medical specialist.

Event podcast: At this Energy Futures event ACCC Chair Rod Sims, Grattan Institute’s Tony Wood and Dr Leslie Martin from The University of Melbourne's Department of Economics and the Centre for Market Design, discussed the ACCC report, its recommendations to governments on solutions and the expectations we should have for real improvements in the short to medium term.