The signs for serious policy reform aren’t promising after the Coalition’s surprise victory in the 2019 federal election. Indeed, there hasn’t been much reform for the past 11 years.
But there are a lot of approaching trains: economic growth is slowing quickly, the (forecast) budget surplus is dicey, a lot more young people are under-employed now than in the 1980s, demand for tertiary education places will start to jump in 2021, an increasing proportion of migration to Australia is relatively low skill, energy costs and emissions are too high, private health insurance is in a death spiral, and home ownership is declining and homelessness rising.
In this presentation, Grattan CEO John Daley charts the challenges and suggests some solutions.