Sustainable Australia Report 2013: conversations with the future provides a picture of Australia - what we look like and who we are. It tells the story of how we have changed as a nation over the last 30 years. We have made great progress in many areas. Australians are living longer, our health and levels...

The terms efficiency and effectiveness are commonly used, yet often are applied in slightly and occasionally widely different ways. This paper sets out how the Productivity Commission defines these terms along with related concepts such as cost effectiveness and productivity. The terms of reference for inquiries and studies undertaken by the Productivity Commission often require...

This audit assessed the extent to which the Department of the Treasury and the Australian Taxation Office have improved the management of tax expenditure estimates. Overall conclusion Tax expenditures are revenues a government forgoes in pursuit of its policy objectives, including its medium-term fiscal strategy. Tax expenditures have been an important part of the Australian...

This audit assessed the effectiveness of the Tax Practitioners Board’s implementation and administration of the regulatory arrangements for tax practitioners under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009. Overall conclusion Taxpayers make extensive use of the services offered by tax practitioners. In 2011–12, tax practitioners lodged over 70 per cent of individual income tax returns and...

This report studies the feasibility of using the National Hospital Morbidity Database (NHMD) to investigate the relationship between obesity and hospitalised injury in Australia. It concludes that the NHMD does not currently provide a reliable basis for measuring obesity among admitted patients, nor to assess the characteristics of injury cases with obesity. Importantly, the data...