Parliamentary Research Briefs

In the 2000s, Australia consistently ranked as one of the most competitive economies in the world. But in recent years, Australia’s economic competitiveness has fallen behind. The International Institute for Management Development (IMD) published its latest World Competitiveness Ranking in June 2023. The Ranking is a comparative assessment of 64 of the world’s major economies, published annually in the IMD’s

University hostility to freedom of speech has more than doubled since 2016 In 2016, 67% of Australian universities enforced policies that were explicitly hostile to free speech. In 2023, that number has increased to 90%. Hostility to free speech on campus can be measured by the number and severity of conduct polices enforced by universities. The combined hostility score across

Western Australia’s criminal justice system is struggling under the weight of rising incarceration and finite resources to support its over-capacity prison system. New research by the Institute of Public Affairs has established:

The increase in electricity prices in NSW and across the national electricity market (NEM) caused by the closure of Hunter Valley’s Liddell Power Station in April 2023 is a lesson the government must learn about the future of Australia’s energy market. The next coal-fired power plant scheduled to end operations, Eraring, must not be allowed to close without a like-for-like baseload

The Institute of Public Affairs recently received legal advice from leading Victorian barrister and constitutional law expert Mr Stuart Wood KC about the lawfulness of the proposed referendum question to insert into the Australian Constitution an ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice’. The federal government has proposed the following referendum question for voters to answer: A Proposed Law: to alter

Australians pride themselves as welcoming and tolerant, yet recognise that infrastructure and housing has not kept pace with a rapid and unsustainable expansion to the nation’s migration intake. IPA analysis of national housing and migration data reveals that, without supply fixes, Australians will experience acute housing shortages over the next five years:

Australia is currently experiencing a persistent and unprecedented, country-wide shortage of workers. Currently, Western Australia is hardest hit by worker shortages. The number of job vacancies in WA is equivalent to 10% of the WA working age population not in the labour force, close to double states such as South Australia. Chart 1: Job vacancies as a percentage of working-age

Australian families are facing acute and immediate cost of living pressures, due to rapidly rising inflation, energy costs, and rising mortgage repayments. A key cause of rising inflation is debt and deficit government spending. New IPA research examines the relationship between government spending, inflation, and mortgage repayment rates. The key findings are: Governments must tackle inflation and the cost of

Our latest research brief discusses Australia’s alarming incarceration rate and nationwide worker shortages. IPA research has found that over-incarceration and worker shortages could be addressed by adopting sensible criminal justice reform. If the proposed offender employment program was adopted for low-risk non-violent offenders, government budgets could be improved by $2 billion every year through reduced prison costs and increased income

Australia is facing an unprecedented, country- wide shortage of workers, the effect of which is to reduce business investment, economic growth, and productivity, as well as forgone wages and government revenue. Urgent government action is needed to reduce the shortage of workers, with one promising initiative being to encourage more pensioners to re-enter the workforce by reduce the unfair penalty