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Australia should introduce a universal basic income
David Thorp | June 26, 2019A universal basic income could allow fundamental reforms of tax rates and the labour market while improving security and equality for all Australians.
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The hidden history of Australia’s own well-being framework
Richard Holden | June 26, 2019Australia’s treasury adopted a well-being framework well before New Zealand’s much celebrated “well-being budget”. Here’s what happened to it.
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Working hard to make work fairer
Kate Stanton | June 4, 2019A proactive model helps the Fair Work Ombudsman track down unscrupulous employers who exploit or underpay their workers.
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Low paid workers get a small pay rise
Jim Stanford | June 2, 2019Waiting for “market forces” to reverse recent record weakness in wage growth hasn’t worked. Nothing does more to create sustainable economic momentum than strong, sustained increases in the minimum wage. The Fair Work Commission is helping, but it could have been more ambitious.
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Will slow wage growth decide Australia’s election?
Thomas Maak | May 17, 2019Labor has pledged to get wages moving again while the Coalition puts its faith in the economy. How voters see this policy divide could determine who forms the next Australian government.
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The false hope offered by talk of a living wage
John Freebairn | April 27, 2019Although it sounds attractive in theory, a higher minimum or “living wage” would give minimal assistance to some people on low incomes, while advantaging others not generally considered in need of support.
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The budget needs to address underemployment
Lori Youmshajekian | April 1, 2019Having work, but not enough of it to meet the costs of living, is especially a problem for young people, says UNSW Professor Kristy Muir.
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Could “shadow equity” help workers escape the low wage trap?
Richard Holden | March 21, 2019Paying workers in a similar way to executives might start to reverse the widening gulf in renumeration between executives and employees.
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Where the future work skills debate goes missing
Veronica Sheen | March 13, 2019“Future Skills”, a new report by Australian thinktank AlphaBeta for Google Australia, argues that positive human traits, rather than knowledge or skills, will be job seekers’ unique selling point in the years ahead.
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It’s time to modernise, not abandon, the WTO
John Denton | March 12, 2019There is no shortage of opinion pieces heralding the end of the rules-based multilateral trading system but this means the World Trade Organisation needs to be modernised, rather than abandoned altogether.
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The Chinese coal ‘ban’ sends a significant political message
Tony Walker | March 4, 2019The standoff over Australian coal imports through the Chinese port of Dalian sends a powerful political message that the authorities in Beijing can turn our imports off and on at will.
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Dealing with the dragon
Michael Shoebridge | February 27, 2019China’s recent disruption of Australian coal exports underlines the country’s need to diversify exports to Indonesia, India and other nations, rather than relying so heavily on just one trading partner.