Economic Policies
The Nobel Prize winning economist James Tobin once said that the study of economics “offered the hope, as it still does, that improved understanding could better the lot of mankind”. One of the ways in which it does this is through the implementation of economic policy that helps to ameliorate boom-and-bust cycles, reduces unemployment, contains inflation or lifts people’s living standards in sustainable ways.
WA GST deal adds $6bn to federal budget deficit
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, News | 3rd October 2025The Australian also has a good article by Paul Garvey (who, it’s worth noting, is based in Perth) about the WA GST deal on 1st October 2025
Carving up the revenue from the GST – an in-depth discussion of ‘The Worst Australian Public Policy Decision of the 21st Century Thus Far’
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, News, Recent Media Interview | 2nd October 2025I had a long conversation with the host of ABC Radio’s “Nightlife” program, Philip Clark, about the way in which the distribution of GST revenue among Australia’s states and territories has been perverted by the desire of Federal politicians (from both sides of the aisle) to win votes and seats from Australia’s richest state, Western […]
The Albanese Government’s expanded home deposit guarantee scheme
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Housing, Recent Media Interview | 25th August 2025Saul talks to ABC News Channel’s Cath Robinson about the Government’s expanded deposit guarantee scheme which will allow more first home buyers to purchase homes with deposits of as little as 5% of the purchase price, without needing to take out lenders’ mortgage insurance.
A podcast about “The Worst Public Policy Decision of the 21st Century Thus Far” – the corruption of the arrangements for distributing revenue from the GST among Australia’s states and territories
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Recent Media Interview | 27th June 2025Saul’s interview with ‘The Wire‘ about what I’ve called ‘The Worst Public Policy Decision of the 21st Century Thus Far” – the corruption, at the behest of Australia’s richest state (Western Australia) of the principles which have governed the distribution of financial assistance from the Australian Federal Government to the states and territories since the […]
Tasmania’s public finances – a comparison with other states and territories in eight charts
Economic Policies, Tasmania | 25th June 2025With all eight Australian states and territories having presented their 2025-26 Budgets, it’s clear that, by most metrics, Tasmania’s public finances are in a worse condition than those of any other jurisdiction – a judgement underscored by the Tasmanian Treasury in its Pre-Election Financial Outlook Report released on 25th June 2025, which vindicates all of […]
An agenda for tax reform
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Publications, Taxation | 22nd June 2025On 22nd and 23rd June, John Menadue’s Pearls and Irritations blog published (in two parts) Saul’s article about options that ideally should be on Australian Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers’ table as he considers how tax reform could contribute to two of the challenges he highlighted in his address to the National Press Club on 10th […]
The Economic Consequences of Mr Trump – for the US, and for Australia
Economic Policies, The Australian Economy, The Global Economy | 18th June 2025Presentation to an ‘Island of Ideas’ forum hosted by the University of Tasmania in Hobart on 18th June 2025. There is a podcast of the forum here : Australia and the Trump Effect – YouTube (Saul’s presentation starts at about 20:00 minutes in).
Tasmania’s next government needs to have credible plans to return the budget to a cash surplus and reduce debt
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Publications, Tasmania | 17th June 2025Unfunded pork-barrelling accounts for more than three-quarters of the increase in Tasmania’s ‘general government’ net debt between 2017-18 and the forecast for 2027-28. During the campaign for the election to be held on 19th July (the third in four years, the fourth in seven) someone needs to say, echoing Kevin Rudd during the 2007 Federal […]