This year, the Budget is officially back in black. On Tuesday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced an expected budget surplus, the first in 15 years. The budget included measures to address the cost of living, provide more support to vulnerable Australians, and healthcare reforms.

Watch Iris Chan, Fellow, discuss the federal Budget with Grattan's CEO, Danielle Wood.

Donate to Grattan: https://grattan.edu.au/donate

Read the Back in Black report: https://grattan.edu.au/report/back-in-black-a-menu-of-measures-to-repair-the-budget/

The federal government recently released their Review of the Migration System. The review has revealed a broken system in dire need of reform. To quote the report, “Australia now has a migration program that fails to attract the most highly skilled migrants and fails to enable business to efficiently access workers.” But how to fix it?

Discussing the report and their policy recommendations are Brendan Coates, Economic Policy Program Director, Tyler Reysenbach, Associate, with host Kat Clay.

Donate to Grattan: https://grattan.edu.au/donate/

Read the Review of the Migration System: https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/reports-and-pubs/files/review-migration-system-final-report.pdf

Last week, the federal government released their long awaited National Electric Vehicle Strategy. At the heart of the policy is a fuel efficiency standard, which sets a limit for carbon emissions from vehicles, to incentivise the sale of electric vehicles.

Listen to Marion Terrill, Transport and Cities Program Director, Lachie Fox, Associate, and host Kat Clay, discuss this new strategy, and whether it goes far enough.

National Electric Vehicle Strategy:

https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/national-electric-vehicle-strategy.pdf

The Grattan Car Plan: https://grattan.edu.au/report/grattan-car-plan/

The Grattan Truck Plan: https://grattan.edu.au/report/grattan-truck-plan/

The Australian Government is on track for more than 25 years of budget deficits. It’s a record that points to major structural issues with the budget. Tough decisions on spending and tax reform will be needed to avoid pushing the cost of today’s spending onto future generations.

Grattan’s latest report offers a ‘menu of options’ to repair the budget. Host Kat Clay discusses these recommendations with report authors Danielle Wood, Kate Griffiths, and Iris Chan.

Read the report: https://grattan.edu.au/report/back-in-black-a-menu-of-measures-to-repair-the-budget/

Less tax is paid on super savings than other forms of income. But if we want a fair and sustainable superannuation system, reform to super tax breaks is essential.

On a recent podcast Grattan addressed the question of super tax breaks for balances with over $3 million. But reforming super is a much broader task, that if successful, will result in a fairer system which could repair the budget by billions.

Brendan Coates, Economic Policy Program Director, and Joey Moloney, Senior Associate, discuss their new report with host Kat Clay.

Every five years the Productivity Commission releases an inquiry into Australia’s productivity, with their latest five-year report released just last week. In it, they outline the case for advancing prosperity through building an adaptable workforce and creating a more dynamic economy, just to name a few. But Australia is facing a number of productivity challenges in the face of an uncertain world, which may hamper our economic growth in the years to come.

Listen to host Kat Clay, in conversation with Grattan’s CEO, Danielle Wood, on why productivity matters.

Read the report: https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/productivity/report

In the past year, Australians have been navigating the rising cost of living, including increased electricity and gas bills.

One tool which gives us an insight into electricity prices for the next financial year is the default market offer (DMO), a draft of which has recently been released by the Australian Energy Regulator. The DMO suggests electricity prices will rise by an average of 20 per cent in the coming year.

In this podcast, Tony Wood, Energy and Climate Program Director, and Alison Reeve, Energy and Climate Deputy Program Director, discuss what the DMO means for electricity prices and consumers, in a conversation facilitated by Esther Suckling, Associate.

The Albanese government has declared that they will increase the earnings tax rate on super accounts with a balance of over $3 million, much to the chagrin of the wealthy.

While this has made prime fodder for comedians to mock the rich, there’s a more serious issue at play here. Super tax breaks need reform, and the budget deficits need to be repaired.

Watch Economic Policy Program Director Brendan Coates, Senior Associate Joey Moloney, and host Kat Clay, discuss whether the government should be cutting tax breaks on multi-million dollar super balances.

Read the Money in Retirement report https://grattan.edu.au/report/money-in-retirement/

With tight housing supply in Australia, it’s a landlord’s market, and renters are queuing out the door in a fight to get a lease. But what’s driving this rental nightmare? Is it inflation? Housing availability? The Phillip Lowe effect?

This rental nightmare raises even bigger questions for Australia: whether we can fix housing. Because the impacts aren’t just on buildings – there are very real effects on tenants, especially women, seniors, and low-income earners.

Listen to host Kat Clay, in conversation with Trent Wiltshire, Deputy Program Director and Joey Moloney, Senior Associate, about what's causing Australia's nightmare rental market, and whether we can fix it.

If you step into a newly built school these days, chances are they look very different to your childhood classroom.

Instead of a standard classroom with four walls, you’re likely find a large room that contains two or three classes, with no wall to separate them, and ample room for teachers and students to move between the ‘classroom’ spaces.

Listen to host Kat Clay in conversation with Senior Associate Anika Stobart, and Education Researcher Brigitte Garbin, about how open-plan classrooms might be harming our children's learning.

Read the article discussed: https://grattan.edu.au/news/faddish-classroom-design-may-be-harming-our-children/