Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage 2009 is the fourth report in a series commissioned by heads of Australian governments in 2002, to provide regular reporting against key indicators of Indigenous disadvantage. In March this year, the terms of reference were updated in a letter from the Prime Minister. The new terms of reference reaffirm governments’ commitment to...

The federal government has asked the Productivity Commission to examine and report on the relative performance of the public and private hospital systems, and related data issues. This issues paper provides background information for people intending to make a submission to the inquiry, together with a summary of past research comparing public and private hospitals...

Australia's restrictions on the parallel importation of books result in higher local book prices and should be lifted according to the recommendations in this Productivity Commission report. {C} The Commission undertook extensive analysis of international book prices and concluded that the current restrictions create material upward pressure on book prices in Australia. The size of...

The review contains the Commission's latest quantitative estimates of Australian Government assistance to industry and documents the findings of the major reviews dealing with export assistance, innovation policy, and assistance to the automotive and the textiles, clothing and footwear sectors. The review also look at developments in assistance in different sectors of the economy over...

This roundtable looked at the effectiveness of current approaches to environmental issues; the strengths and limitations of market-based and cooperative solutions; and institutions and incentives for better policies and outcomes.