How much does it cost to end rough sleeping? An Australian-first study may have just found out
Katrina Raynor

How much does it cost to end rough sleeping? An Australian-first study may have just found out

Homelessness in Australia is worsening, with services stuck in crisis mode. Evidence from Finland – and new research in SA and WA – shows a different path is possible.

Recent articles in Policy

Australia’s social media ban puts free speech on the chopping block
Greg Barns

Australia’s social media ban puts free speech on the chopping block

Australia’s social media ban for under-16s is being sold as a protection for children, but it raises serious questions about free speech, democratic participation and the perverse effects of prohibition.

Jobs for mates, by design: the government rejects its own integrity review
Andrew Podger

Jobs for mates, by design: the government rejects its own integrity review

The government’s response to the Briggs review abandons legislated reform and leaves ministers wide discretion over appointments across the commonwealth.

Too many states, too little nation: time to fix the federation
Allan Patience

Too many states, too little nation: time to fix the federation

Australia’s federal system was designed for the nineteenth century. Today it produces duplication, dysfunction and state parochialism that frustrate national governance and reform.

Refugees aren’t politically progressive by default – and policy needs to catch up
Ko Ko Aung

Refugees aren’t politically progressive by default – and policy needs to catch up

Australian settlement policy often assumes refugees will embrace progressive politics. Research and community experience show refugee political identities are far more diverse – with important implications for law and policy.

Words or action? Dreyfus and human rights at home
Andrew Fraser

Words or action? Dreyfus and human rights at home

Mark Dreyfus has been appointed Australia’s special envoy on human rights. Is the government prepared to match international advocacy with concrete action at home – by finally legislating a Human Rights Act?

The great failure of the property industry
Stewart Sweeney

The great failure of the property industry

In every era, certain industries become so large, so politically embedded, and so culturally unexamined that their performance ceases to matter.

New architecture, old assumptions: Australia and the China question
Ronald C. Keith

New architecture, old assumptions: Australia and the China question

Foreign Minister Penny Wong speaks of balance, equality and a new regional order – yet Australia’s China policy still carries Cold War assumptions that risk strategy, prosperity and peace.

Tackling vehicle emissions – the next big climate task
Samuel Marks

Tackling vehicle emissions – the next big climate task

Reducing transport emissions is fast approaching as the next big issue in Australia’s climate debate.

It’s Ley, or virtually certain Liberal self-immolation
Jack Waterford

It’s Ley, or virtually certain Liberal self-immolation

People closer to the action than I are suggesting that the end is nigh for Sussan Ley. They may be right; momentum is often all in these matters.

Australia-China policy: Guardrails, not walls
Marina Yue Zhang

Australia-China policy: Guardrails, not walls

An industry networking day in Canberra this week laid bare a simple truth: politics is still beating economics in Australia’s China policy.

Abandoning net zero: Farce, fantasy and falsehoods
Jeremy Webb

Abandoning net zero: Farce, fantasy and falsehoods

Australian politics is now descending into a theatre of science-denying absurdity. A mainstream party is now embedded in denial of clear scientific evidence that renewables are the lowest cost option for Australia through to 2050.

Australia's AI policy vacuum
Sue Barrett

Australia's AI policy vacuum

Australia abandoned its AI regulation plan. Now citizens are filling the ethical vacuum government created.



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