This year is shaping up as a big year for Australian foreign policy. This FlagPost highlights some of the key milestones expected over the coming months. The centrepiece of the Australian Government’s foreign policy agenda in 2017 will be a new white paper that will ‘provide a roadmap for advancing and protecting Australia’s international interests...

This blog post argues that previous reforms of the income support system, coupled with a stable unemployment rate, have been successful in reducing dependence on welfare for the working age population.

Despite great changes in Indigenous policy in the last twenty-five years, the number of Indigenous deaths in custody has not declined. Between 1987 and 1991, while the Royal Commission was underway, there were 23 Indigenous deaths in prison custody and 28 in police custody. From 2009 to 2013 (2014 and 2015 data is not yet...

Outlines which OECD countries include or exclude food, health, education and financial services from their respective consumption taxes, along with various countries’ general consumption tax rate. Introduction At the time the Goods and Services Tax was introduced, health, education and financial services and some food items (mainly fresh food), amongst other areas, were exempted from...

The National Water Commission (NWC) is to be dissolved, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann confirmed on Monday. Established during the millennium drought, the NWC is an independent statutory authority designed to monitor the progress of national water reform, but its role changed and expanded over the years. What has the NWC been doing? Origins and functions...