Occupational entry regulations (OER) are legal requirements people need to meet to enter certain professions. They are intended to protect consumers by ensuring providers are of sufficient quality, but can also create costs by making it harder for new workers to enter a profession or for new firms to open and grow. This paper finds...

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is the centrepiece of Australia’s system of corporate and financial regulation. When corporate misconduct occurs, Australians expect that ASIC will investigate promptly, take appropriate enforcement action and deter future breaches of the law. Evidence to this inquiry has made clear the deep flaws in ASIC’s approach to investigation...

There has been a lot of consternation in recent years about the Commonwealth government's engagement of private consultancy services. A key recommendation stemming from this inquiry is for the Australian Parliament to legislate to establish a Joint Standing Committee to review and approve consultancy and services contracts, with provisions and thresholds similar to those in...

Ai Group’s Centre for Education and Training surveys a cross section of Australian businesses every two years to learn more about skills and workforce challenges across the economy. The survey asked businesses about their skills needs in relation to the transition to the clean economy for the first time in 2022. This year, the same...

The authors of this report argue that uncertainty about the benefits and costs of industrial policies, and limited public resources, suggest that governments should prioritise areas where existing structural challenges cannot be addressed solely by markets and other government policies.