What role for behavioural economics in public policy?
There has been an explosion of interest in behavioural economics over the past few years, and many interesting studies have shed new light on the often-irrational nature of human decision-making. I was fortunate enough to be invited along to the Grattan Institute in Melbourne to discuss how the insights of behavioural economics can help guide public policymaking.
‘WHAT ROLE FOR BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMICS IN PUBLIC POLICY?’
ADDRESS TO THE GRATTAN INSTITUTE
WEDNESDAY, 8 OCTOBER 2014
MELBOURNE
Read moreWhile I was in graduate school, two of my classmates, Stefano DellaVigna and Ulrike Malmendier, carried out a study on gym visits. They obtained data from three Boston gyms, and analysed the attendance patterns of members.
Dividing annual fees by the number of visits, they found that the typical gym member spent $17 per visit, even although casual visits cost only $10. In total, the average member loses $600 compared with if they had just paid as a casual. The title of the paper? ‘Paying not to go to the gym’.
Foreign aid cuts are counter to Australian generosity
It's really disappointing to hear that the Abbott Government is considering making further cuts to Australia's aid budget after already slashing $7.6 billion from it in the May budget. The government's approach is especially galling when there's clear evidence Australians support foreign aid and want to see us do our bit in the region.
Read moreForeign aid cuts are counter to Australian generosity, Canberra Times, 8 October
In the beachside town of Tibar, in Timor-Leste’s Liquiçá District, there is a little community school where local children come each day to learn reading and writing. For a long time, the school’s staff taught only from a couple of outdated textbooks, while the children ground stubs of chalk down to nothing writing on battered slates.
That changed in 2010 when an Australian Government aid program began providing Tibar’s school with brand new textbooks, reading tools and learning materials. For the first time, the school could offer its students an education that fed and inspired their young minds.
Falling revenue and revised forecasts - PVO News Hour
Following news that the Abbott Government has finally discovered the connection between international economic conditions and the state of the Australian budget, I joined Peter Van Onselen's show on Sky to talk about what it should do next. Here's the clip:
What is Kevin Andrews keeping from us?
For the past few months, the Abbott Government has been seeking feedback on its plans to abolish to Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. Despite promising to make this feedback public by September, there's still no sign of Minister Kevin Andrews releasing it. So the question is:
Read moreWHAT IS KEVIN ANDREWS KEEPING FROM US?
MEDIA RELEASE
Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews is keeping us all in the dark about how his plans for replacing the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission have been received by the sector.
In July the government released an options paper which recommended that the dedicated charities commission be replaced by a mix of oversight from the Australian Tax Office and self-reporting by not-for-profits.
Minister Andrews called for public submissions responding to this paper, and his department also held 10 forums around Australia for representatives of the charity sector.
The department promised to publish the findings from this consultation process on its website in September. Yet here we are in the second week of October and there is still no sign of the submissions being released.
Could it be that the Minister is holding back the submissions because they rubbish his idea of scrapping an agency which is making life easier for charities and increasing transparency across the not-for-profit sector?
Constituency statement -- opposing cuts to the Women's Legal Centre
The Women's Legal Centre will have $100,000 cut from its funding by the Abbott Government in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 financial years. A constituent of mine got in touch to share her story about the Women's Legal Centre, and concerns about the government's cuts. Without community legal assistance she and her children would have been exposed to prolonged abuse and trauma. Sadly, her story is not unique, nor is it uncommon.
Read moreCondolences for Professor Anthony McMichael
1 October 2014
I spoke in parliament to offer my condolences for the death of Emeritus Professor Anthony McMichael AO, and recognise his major contribution to our understanding of the links between climate change and human health.
Read moreTalking tax on Sky - Wednesday, 1 October
News that the federal government is going back to the drawing board with the budget because it can't get its unfair cuts through the Senate has further increased the focus on Australia's tax revenue. Are we collecting enough tax? And if, as Fairfax has been reporting, some big companies aren't paying their fair share, how do we fix that problem? I joined Janine Perrett on Sky to talk tax and the budget; here's the video.
Who pays for our common wealth?
Over the past few days, there's been a lot of discussion about how much tax Australian companies pay and whether big firms are paying their fair share. This video from United Voice and the Tax Justice Network gives a great rundown of the facts and figures behind that debate:
Red tape? Not from the charities commission
The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission has released some new research showing how much time and money Australian charities spend complying with their regulatory requirements. Embarrassingly for Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews, the report reveals his whole rationale for scrapping the commission is completely wrong.
MEDIA RELEASE
RED TAPE? NOT FROM THE CHARITIES COMMISSION
Kevin Andrews’ main argument for scrapping the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission has been blown apart by a new report today from Ernst & Young.
The report finds that the charities commission has an critical role to play in reducing regulatory burden.
Kevin Andrews has persistently argued that the charities commission should be scrapped because it increases the regulatory burden on charities.
2UE Mornings - More on multinational tax
Multinational tax avoidance continues to be a hot topic of discussion across Australia, and this morning I joined John Stanley and Garry Linell on 2UE Mornings to talk about how we can tackle this challenge. Here's the transcript:
Read moreE&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2UE MORNINGS
WEDNESDAY, 1 OCTOBER 2014
SUBJECT/S: Joe Hockey dragging his feet on multinational profit-shifting; New Senate inquiry
JOHN STANLEY: This is the question that we have been talking about for quite some time. This question of tax and the capacity of the Australian government to get some of these companies, particularly these big companies like Apple and Google to pay their tax.
GARRY LINELL: So we’ve got the big G2O meeting in Brisbane coming up later this year and the Abbott Government has pledged to tackle the issue there. But there are now even more concerns that the Australian tax office is ill equipped to deal with the problems. I mean if you look at the money that’s going missing, it could actually solve all of our budget deficits. Now they are currently in the process of axing about three thousand jobs at the Australian tax office, including most of the international tax experts. Now many of these experts are being poached to work for the big four accounting firms.
STANLEY: Can we just get this straight. We’ve got people, thousands of them who have been trained at public expense in our universities, they’ve gone into the public service, they’ve become tax experts, they work in the tax office, they’re laid off and then they go and work for the big companies that are helping these big international firms avoid their tax.
LINELL: But the best ones are being poached anyway, long before they are being laid off. They are being picked up by both the major companies who want to know how to minimise their tax and the big accounting firms.
STANLEY: Dr Andrew Leigh is the shadow assistant treasurer and he is one the line with us now.
ANDREW LEIGH, SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER: Morning John, morning Gary.