Competition in electricity retailing hasn’t delivered what was promised: lower prices for consumers. The failure is worst in Victoria, the state with the most retailers and the longest experience of deregulation. Profit margins appear to be higher than in other retail sectors – and more than double the margin that regulators considered fair when they...

When students are engaged in class, they learn more. It is vital that teachers create the right classroom climate for learning: raising student expectations; developing a rapport with students; establishing routines; challenging students to participate and take risks. These all affect how much their students engage and learn.

While economic growth has been concentrated in cities for some time, the trend has really accelerated in the past decade. Half of all jobs growth is now within a 2km radius of the city centres in both Melbourne and Sydney, reflecting the increasing share of new jobs in services industries where physical proximity really matters.

A 15 per cent loan fee on all new tertiary education lending could save the Commonwealth $700 million a year and make the Higher Education Loan Program more affordable for government. The fee would help to offset the government’s interest costs, while being fair to all students and preserving the loan program’s social goals. Interest...

How wonderful, you might think, that the Australian government is in furious agreement with its independent infrastructure advisory body on how to tackle the country’s present and looming infrastructure challenges. Of Infrastructure Australia’s 78 recommendations in its Infrastructure Plan, the federal government opposes only three outright. But, in reality, the government has ducked some hard...