Transport and Cities
25 February 2018
Unfreezing discount rates: transport infrastructure for tomorrow
Australia is taking the wrong approach to valuing roads, railways and other big infrastructure. Change will help governments pick the right projects in the right order.
2 October 2017
Stuck in traffic? Road congestion in Sydney and Melbourne
Road congestion charges should be introduced in Sydney and Melbourne. An examination of 3.5 million Google Maps trip-time estimates across more than 350 routes suggests both cities could face traffic gridlock in future unless decisive action is taken to manage congestion.
19 March 2017
What price value capture?
State governments should be wary of following the Turnbull Government’s advice to introduce “value capture” schemes to fund major new transport projects. A broad-based, low-rate land tax may be a better option.
23 October 2016
Cost overruns in transport infrastructure
Australian governments have spent $28 billion more on transport infrastructure over the past 15 years than they told taxpayers they would spend. It is time to curb politicians’ reckless promises and create a more accountable basis for infrastructure building.
14 June 2016
Orange Book 2016: priorities for the next Commonwealth Government
Australia faces many domestic policy challenges as the election looms. Yet a survey of seven years of Grattan Institute reports and policy proposals shows that a government prepared to forcefully articulate the public interest could win public support for a brave and powerful reform agenda.
3 April 2016
Roads to riches: better transport spending
A decade of unprecedented spending on transport infrastructure has put politics ahead of the public interest. Too much money is being wasted on the wrong projects built in the wrong places.
1 March 2015
City Limits: Why Australia’s cities are broken and how we can fix them
Grattan Institute’s first book, City Limits: Why Australia’s cities are broken and how we can fix them, by Jane-Frances Kelly and Paul Donegan, is now available at bookstores and through Melbourne University Publishing.
20 July 2014
Mapping Australia’s economy: cities as engines of prosperity
City centres are the new engines of Australia’s prosperity, producing a dollar value of goods and services out of all proportion to their physical size. But too many workers are living too far from jobs to fulfil our cities’ potential.
20 October 2013
Renovating housing policy
Government tax and welfare policies are worsening the divide between those who own homes and those who do not. Housing policy is overdue for a major renovation to create more productive cities and a fairer Australia.
5 May 2013
Productive Cities: opportunity in a changing economy
The rise of the knowledge-intensive economy is reshaping our cities and leaving too many residents living too far from jobs. Increasing housing in existing urban areas and improving transport systems will increase opportunity and national prosperity.