Category Archives: Australian politics

Dipping the Budget’s toe in the waters of wellbeing

Originally published at The Mandarin. Last night, treasurer Jim Chalmers cautiously set Australia on its wellbeing economy journey. This government’s first Budget sat against a backdrop of inflationary pressures, global conflict, gloomy outlooks, floods and cost of living pressures. Behind … Continue reading

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Chalmers hasn’t delivered a wellbeing budget, but it’s a step in the right direction

Warwick Smith, The University of Melbourne It was billed as Australia’s first wellbeing budget. But, five months into a new government, with so many economic fires to fight, Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ first budget was never going to be that. Instead, … Continue reading

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Beyond GDP: Chalmers’ historic moment to build wellbeing

Warwick Smith, The University of Melbourne Australia’s new federal treasurer, Jim Chalmers, spoke regularly in opposition about a well-being budget and the need to measure more than just the traditional economic indicators. He was even mocked for it by his … Continue reading

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To Fight The IMF’s Dire Prediction We Need More Government Debt – 10 daily

By Warwick Smith This article was first published on April 15 2020 at 10daily, which has since shut down. I’m reproducing it here now partly to keep a record in case the web site ceases to exist. Update: the 10daily … Continue reading

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The coronavirus response calls into question the future of super

  Brendel/Unsplash, CC BY-NC Warwick Smith, University of Melbourne This article was first published in The Conversation. Understandably, given we are in a crisis, the government has baulked at including superannuation contributions in the A$140 billion worth of $1,500 per … Continue reading

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Mineral wealth, Clive Palmer, and the corruption of Australian politics – The Conversation

Warwick Smith, University of Melbourne Clive Palmer is reportedly spending A$70 million of his own money on his party’s campaign. How is it possible for one individual to command so much wealth and where did it come from? The sad … Continue reading

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Labor wants to pay childcare wages itself. A perfect storm makes it not such a bad idea

This article was first published in The Conversation. Warwick Smith, University of Melbourne This article is part of an election series on wages, industrial relations, Labor and the union movement ahead of the 2019 federal election. You can read other … Continue reading

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Memories. In 1961 Labor promised to boost the deficit to fight unemployment. The promise won

  First published in The Conversation Arthur Caldwell almost defeated Robert Menzies in the poll in 1961, and won the debate about policy. National Archives, National Library of Australia, Wikimedia Warwick Smith, University of Melbourne Lately, governments and oppositions have … Continue reading

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The simple approach to carbon

By Warwick Smith First published in The Canberra Times and other Fairfax newspapers. What is fee and dividend carbon pricing? Carbon fee and dividend is a model for pricing climate pollutants where a fee is charged on producers of emissions, … Continue reading

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RRR Uncommon Sense interview on full employment

I was interviewed by Amy Mullins on Uncommon Sense following the publication of my report on the history of unemployment in Australia. The interview is about 40 minutes long which allowed us to really delve into the topic of unemployment. … Continue reading

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