Economy
-
John Menadue. Seven dollar GP co-payment – and an unintended consequence
If the co-payment takes effect, it is likely to result in an increase in doctor’s fees. As Ian McAuley has pointed out, the attraction of bulk-billing for the doctor is that it removes the cost of handling and accounting for transactions. The invoice is sent directly to Medicare. Once the doctor is obliged to handle Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. The Budget: Robin Hood in reverse.
There was a real risk that Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey believed their windy rhetoric of the last two years about debt and deficits. Having won the election they have had to face the reality that they have been grossly exaggerating our economic problems. The real risk was that Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey would Continue reading »
-
Ian McAuley. Ignored Budget issues.
Lobby groups and community organizations have provided their take on the Budget – some with a “what’s in it for me” approach, others with a more analytical line. My contribution from the stands is to draw attention to a few aspects which aren’t getting a great deal of attention. 1. Pension indexation. I’m surprised that Continue reading »
-
Ian McAuley. Pay for a GP visit.
The Commission of Audit’s proposal to charge a $5 or $6 fee for “bulk-billed” GP services has little to commend it. But that doesn’t justify knee-jerk outrage from medical and consumer groups, or from the Labor Opposition, for there is no reason why Medicare should not incorporate fixed and limited co-payments. As it stands the Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. Increasing the petrol tax is good policy.
It may not be good short-term politics for the Abbott Government but it will be of long-term benefit to Australia if we lift the excise on petrol which has been frozen since 2001. The motor industry will protest. It should be faced down, just as we should have faced down the mining lobby when it Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. Penalty rates and Liberal lobbyists.
There is a campaign underway to cut weekend and holiday penalty rates particularly in the restaurant and hospitality industries. True to form the Australian Financial Review says that weekend penalty rates are a relic of times past. A report leaked to the ABC indicates that the government will ask the Productivity Commission to undertake a Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. The cost of abolishing the Mining Tax
Just when the mining tax looks like raising some worthwhile revenue, the Coalition proposes to abolish the tax. The Rudd Government made a mess of the Resources Super Profits Tax (RSPT). We know from the Henry Tax Review and other commentators that such well-designed rent-based taxes are likely to be more efficient and even out Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. Taxes – public or private
The Commission of Audit has recommended that a Medicare levy surcharge be applied to individuals earning more than $88,000 a year and $176,000 for families. This is designed to force high income earners to take out private health insurance. This is one of the most economically stupid and dangerous proposals that I have seen for Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. The Commission of Audit and facing the wrong way.
Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey have been leaking confusing stories in the lead-up to the budget. A consistent theme however is that they must take tough action because of all the problems left by the previous government. They also need to justify the exaggerated rhetoric they used during the election campaign. A lot of it Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. Do our governments spend too much or do they raise too little in taxation?
This a repost and provides a summary of the submission that Ian McAuley, Jennifer Doggett and I made to the Commission of Audit. John Menadue The Minister for Health, Peter Dutton, has said that we must reduce waste and cut costs in health. (I responded to this in my blog on 3 February “Cutting waste Continue reading »
-
Ian McAuley- Picketty and the gap between rich and poor. Inequality of wealth is the problem rather than the inequality of income.
The Observer/Guardian carried a recent story/review about Thomas Picketty’s address to the Institute of New Economic Thinking in Toronto. The story was headed “Capitalism simply isn’t working and here are the reasons why” The story draws also on a recently published book by the French economist Picketty “Capital in the 21st Century” The newspaper story Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. AMP excess and dud products.
I have posted several blogs on how powerful insiders bend governments to their will. Just think of the power of the polluter lobby, the mining lobby, the health lobby, the gambling lobby and the hotel lobby. But the superannuation lobby is probably the most powerful and the most lucrative gravy-train of all. The superannuation industry Continue reading »
-
Kieran Tapsell. Things are improving.
Héctor Abad Faciolince, El Espectador, Colombia, 29 December 2013, http://www.elespectador.com/opinion/el-espantoso-mundo-vivimos-columna-466312 Summary: The world we live in is frightening, but it is less frightening than it used to be. One of the best definitions of the word, “intellectual” that I have read is: “a person who has studied beyond his own capacities”. There are those incapable Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. Tony Abbott in Japan
Tony Abbott has just completed his visit to Japan. The media has been full of stories about the improvement particularly in agricultural exports from Australia to Japan. It should all be taken with a grain of salt. There have been some improvements particularly for our beef exports but the hype and spin does not obscure Continue reading »
-
Ian McAuley. Inequality in Australia.
A Financial Review article on March 24 claimed “Inequality in Australia has not deteriorated over the last 25 years, according to Reserve Bank of Australia research that undermines claims the gap between rich and poor has worsened” The essence of the argument is that while, between 1993-94 and 2009-10, the distribution of income has become more unequal, Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. Privatising Medibank Pte – who cares?
This is a repost from 28 November 2013. My own view is that all the private health insurance companies, including Medibank Pte are parasitical and undermine Medicare. The only important political issue in my mind is whether the policy holders who have contributed over decades to Medibank Pte should receive appropriate recompense rather than Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. An enormous financial heist is underway.
We saw the enormous power of the mining sector when the foreign-owned mining companies forced the Rudd government to ignominiously back down on its super profits tax. For less than $20 million in an advertising and public relations campaign the miners secured for themselves tax savings of over $60 billion. The public interest was surrendered Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. Gina Rinehart and the age of entitlement.
It is a bit rich for Gina Rinehart, with the enormous privileges she has inherited, to be telling us that we all need to work harder, cut taxes and curb wasteful government spending. Born on third base, as baseball enthusiasts would understand, does give a very jaundiced view of yourself and others. There is a Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. The Carbon Tax and Flat-Earthers.
Despite all the political rhetoric and hysteria, the evidence is mounting almost daily that the carbon tax is largely working as planned and that its impact on electricity prices is quite small, particularly compared with the ‘network costs’, the poles and wires, which have been the main drivers of increased electricity prices. But the flat-earthers Continue reading »
-
Daniel Brammall. Financial advisers and the conflict of interest.
In December last year the new government announced how it was going to ‘make financial advice more affordable’ by amending the previous government’s ‘Future of Financial Advice’ (FOFA) proposals (1). Recall that the FOFA legislation was introduced in response to hundreds of millions of dollars of Australians’ savings being lost in the corporate collapses of Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. Cutting waste and costs in health.
Last night on lateline, the Minister for Health Peter Dutton called for a public debate on health reform. I therefore have taken the liberty of reposting a blog of February 3 on ‘Cutting waste and costs in health’. The Minister for Health, Peter Dutton, has said that we must reduce waste and reduce costs in Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. Opinion and fact on climate change.
Tony Abbott keeps telling us that climate change is not a factor in the current drought in eastern Australia. Last October he ruled out climate change as a factor in October’s early season bushfires in the Blue Mountains. He keeps giving us opinions when the facts, supported by overwhelming scientific research, tell us that Australia Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. The squandered mining boom.
We are now paying a heavy price for our failure to manage the mining boom. The consequences are all too clear, particularly in the manufacturing sector. The mining boom drove up our exchange rate and wage costs. A Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) and the Resource Super Profits Tax (RSPT) would have minimised the problems. However, Continue reading »
-
Mark Gregory. NBN – ageing copper network and structural separation.
The Australian telecommunication industry is in crisis and centre stage is an ageing copper network that some would have you believe is good for another hundred years and others argue it is time to move to an all fibre access network. But the problems extend far beyond copper versus fibre and go to the heart Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. Cutting back government spending – does it include middle-class and corporate welfare?
Tony Abbott told his listeners recently at Davos that small government was the best form of government. The Minister for Health, Peter Dutton, has said that waste must be reduced in our health sector. The Minister for Social Services, Kevin Andrews, has told us that our welfare system is unsustainable and has appointed Patrick McClure Continue reading »
-
Jennifer Doggett. Cutting waste and costs in health.
Cut expensive and low-value services: Health funding is not allocated to areas which deliver maximum output. We spend too much on expensive low-value services and not enough on preventive, high –value care. Recent research shows that a number of routine tests performed in the Australian health system do not improve clinical outcomes. These include x-rays for lower Continue reading »
-
Ian Webster. Cutting waste and costs in health
Waste in health care conjures up several pictures. One picture is of community nurses, psychologists and Aboriginal health workers in the community centre I visit anchored to their computer screens, endlessly it seems, trying to fulfil the demands of data entry. They are obviously frustrated by the lack of relevance this has for solving the Continue reading »
-
John Dwyer. Cutting waste and costs in health.
Tactics and strategies for a six year journey to sustainable, equitable excellence (1) Move to a single funder for our national health scheme (The Commonwealth). The funder would contract with States and other potential providers to deliver integrated patient focused care. The health bureaucracy would be reduced by 80% with greater efficiency, better outcomes Continue reading »
-
Ian McAuley. Cutting waste and costs in health.
There are three areas of saving to be made in health care – real savings rather than movement of costs from public budgets to consumers. There can be savings in technical efficiency — savings any engineer or cost-conscious manager seeks in a workplace. A strong example is making better use of information technology. There can Continue reading »
-
John Menadue. Our lack of business and political skills in Asia.
The Business Council of Australia and business executives keep reminding us of the need to increase our productivity by up-skilling and better use of our labour resources. Unfortunately the business sector is spectacularly lagging in equipping itself for opportunities in Asia. Last week The Australian Financial Review surveyed the schools and educational backgrounds of the Continue reading »
