This presentation demonstrates that elections are increasingly about big transport infrastructure ‘announceables.’ But these election promises are usually driven by politics more than evidence. They don’t show much influence from the advice of independent expert bodies, and are often made well before business cases have been completed, let alone publicly released.

This report rates Australia’s performance against similar countries and proposes policy reforms for schools and universities, hospitals and housing, roads and railways, cities and regions, budgets and taxes, retirement incomes, and climate change.

Grattan Institute modelling shows that, even after allowing for inflation, most workers today can expect a retirement income of at least 91% of their pre-retirement income – well above the 70% benchmark endorsed by the OECD, and more than enough to maintain pre-retirement living standards.

State and territory governments can do more to improve the lives of Australians. The State Orange Book 2018 shows that outcomes vary between states across a broad range of areas. In many cases, states are different because their governments adopted better policies.

The debate about the Turnbull Government’s income tax cuts is being sidetracked by misconceptions.