In the decade and a half since the Productivity Commission was formally established, it has completed 110 inquiries and other commissioned studies and made some 1500 policy recommendations to governments. All of these recommendations were made because the Commission judged that their implementation would enhance Australians’ living standards and quality of life. In many cases...

This paper provides a contextual account of the issues and dynamics of the 2012 election for the ACT Legislative Assembly, along with an account of its outcomes. The 2012 election proved to be the closest in the history of ACT self-government and produced yet another minority government.

This paper provides an overview of both permanent and temporary skilled migration to Australia and outlines some of the recent changes that have been made specifically to address labour market concerns and encourage more 'demand-driven' sponsored skilled migrants. The establishment in 1945 of Australia’s first government department dedicated specifically to immigration is considered to have...

The ACMA Communications report 2011–12 fulfils the ACMA’s statutory reporting requirements under section 105 of the Telecommunications Act 1997 to report to the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy on significant matters relating to the performance of carriers and carriage service providers (CSPs) with particular reference to consumer satisfaction, consumer benefits and quality...

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework looks at the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, which is improving for a number of measures, although there remain many areas where further concerted effort will be needed to achieve improvements in health outcomes. The HPF was designed to measure the impact of...