Tag Archives: 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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Interviewed for ABC Podcast ‘The Signal’. How the dole bludger was born.

I was interviewed about the history of unemployment in Australia and, more specifically, the history of how Australia has treated unemployed workers. We haven’t always been so punitive. For about 25 years after WW2 unemployment was seen as a collective … Continue reading

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History of unemployment in Australia: Uncommon Sense 3RRR

I was interviewed by Amy Mullins for her terrific show Uncommon Sense. This show is rare in that it spends substantial time on subjects, really getting into some of the nuance and complexity behind the headlines and slogans. We spoke … Continue reading

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Video of speech for the Victorian Fabians

Here’s a speech I gave on the economics of inequality at the AGM of the Victorian Fabians. The speech notes are below the video. Warwick Smith from Australian Fabians Inc. (AFI) on Vimeo. Speech notes from Per Capita’s Medium page. … Continue reading

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Governments haven’t always shirked responsibility for our low wages – The Conversation

Post-war Australia experienced a boom with full employment and falling inequality. State Library of Queensland Warwick Smith, University of Melbourne For the last four years or so average wages in Australia have barely kept pace with inflation, meaning no real … Continue reading

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History suggests Australia could be left behind by the next industrial revolution

Warwick Smith, and Mitchell Eddy, University of Melbourne Originally published in The Conversation. This article was co-authored by Mitchell Eddy who has recently completed a Masters of International Relations at the University of Melbourne that included a placement at the … Continue reading

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Trump: from crisis comes opportunity

17 November 2016 By Warwick Smith Originally published at Per Capita Australia The forward march of the neoliberal consensus had for decades appeared to be unstoppable. Somehow the wealthy elite managed to hoodwink us into believing that competition was the … Continue reading

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2ser radio Sydney interview on the government’s PaTH internship program

I was on 2ser’s Sunday night program The Mix this week talking about the budget and, in particular, the government’s new Prepare-Trial-Hire (PaTH) program for youth unemployment. You can listen to the program on the link below. My contribution starts … Continue reading

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