There in an increasing emphasis within Australia on using good statistical information in policy-making. This guide provides an overview of how data can be used to make well informed policy decisions.

Grattan Institute's second Cities program investigates decision making in eight of the world’s most successful cities, and asks what governance arrangements accompanied their broad-based improvement. Every city has a different story, but among these differences a number of common themes emerged. These included the importance of public engagement, consistent strategic direction, cross-sectoral collaboration, and regional...

Ethics is a vigorously contested field. There are many competing moral frameworks, and different views about how normative considerations should inform the art and craft of governmental policy making. What is not in dispute, however, is that ethics matters. The ethical framework adopted by policy analysts and decision makers not only shapes how policy problems...

Should Australia’s population grow to more than 35 million people by the middle of the 21st century? The 2010 Intergenerational Report sparked a controversy over its suggestion that we are heading for a ‘Big Australia’ in the coming decades.This report looks behind the headline figures to highlight potential outcomes based on different assumptions about fertility...

This article looks at the role of Australian Policy Online (APO) as a collection of ‘grey’ public policy research and considers how this fits within the broader context of open access publishing and policy development.