Australia will face problems funding its public hospital and other publicly funded health services if cost increases continue at the current rate in the context of ever-increasing use and an ageing population. The challenges of sustainably financing the cost of health will be exacerbated by inefficiencies in the public hospital sector—unless productivity improvements reduce the...

High growth in health spending is the area of public expenditure that will unsustainably increase the size of government in coming decades. This report, part of the Centre for Independent Studies' TARGET30 campaign, outlines some practical policies that can help cut Medicare down to size. It also proposes ‘big bang’ health reform involving the use...

In February 2012, a report by the Senate Community Affairs References Committee recommended that the federal parliament issue a formal statement of apology for the role the Commonwealth played in the routine adoption of the babies of unwed (mostly teenage) mothers by childless married couples between the 1950s and mid-1970s. The Gillard government subsequently announced...

This report presents speeches from a panel discussion on what the Sydney riot means for Australia's status as a peaceful and harmonious multicultural society. The riot on 15 September in the Sydney CBD by Muslim protestors angry the US film Innocence of Muslims shocked, but perhaps did not surprise, many Australians. For a number of...

NSW public expenditure on health represents one-third of the entire NSW budget. Despite public hospitals consuming nearly 60% of the high and rapidly growing health spending, elective waiting times have lengthened in NSW compared to other states in the last decade. In an ever-tightening fiscal environment, the focus of NSW health policy must be microeconomic...