Category Archives: Australian politics

The Coalition has boxed itself into a ridiculous corner on tax – The Drum

OPINION Originally published in The Drum By Warwick Smith Posted 18 Mar 2016, 10:47am According to the Coalition, we can’t raise taxes nor introduce new taxes. And if cutting expenditure is off the table following the dire experience of the … Continue reading

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How about three-day weekends in exchange for working until 70? – The Age

First published in The Age. March 10, 2016 Warwick Smith Most of us would be happy to work a few years longer if it meant a shorter working week. Australians today get more leisure time than past generations, but most … Continue reading

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Tax and tax reform in Australia – appearance on Radio National’s Rear Vision

I was one of four guests on RN’s Rear Vision special on tax reform. You can download the audio here. A sample my contribution to the program is below. Keri Phillips: Warwick Smith is a research economist at the University … Continue reading

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Privatising Medicare payments is a distraction from real reform – The Drum

This article was originally published at The Drum. By Warwick Smith Posted 10 Feb 2016, 10:23am PHOTO: Are we facing a death by a thousand cuts approach to Medicare reform? (Giulio Saggin, file photo: ABC News) Would the privatisation of the … Continue reading

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Death and taxes on 2SER’s breakfast show

I was back on 2SER’s breakfast show this morning with Mitch Byatt. We talked about inheritance taxes: whether they’re good or not; why they were abolished in the ’70s and what other options there are for tax reform.  It was slightly … Continue reading

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Cynical workforce participation policy forces solo parents into ranks of unemployed – The Age

By Warwick Smith First published at The Age The Turnbull government is peddling workforce participation nonsense. Some things have changed under the leadership of Malcolm Turnbull. Many things haven’t. When it comes to employment, the government continues to “push on … Continue reading

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Malcolm Turnbull and the distraction of economic growth – Independent Australia

If we stop obsessing about economic growth and focus directly on our social aims then economic growth will take care of itself, writes economist Warwick Smith. First published at Independent Australia WHY ARE WE so consumed by the pursuit of economic … Continue reading

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China’s ETS will boost Turnbull’s chances of shifting Coalition policy – The Drum

OPINION By Warwick Smith Originally published by the ABC at The Drum. Posted Mon at 4:19pm PHOTO: A woman rides her bicycle past a coal power station in Beijing. (David Gray, file photo: Reuters) It would be a mistake to … Continue reading

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Joe Hockey’s unscripted moments of truth reveal what the Government really thinks – The Age

By Warwick Smith Originally published by The Age on September 3, 2015 – 12:17PM. Talk of throwing Hockey to the wolves is worrying. After all, it’s his slip-of-the-truth lines that give us a glimpse of the Government’s real agenda: only the rich … Continue reading

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