Melbourne Institute Public Economic Forums in Canberra
Forums 2015
Towards a Stronger Medicare
Date: Tuesday 30 June 2015
Time: 12.00 - 1.45pm (registration from 11.30am)
Venue: Capital Room, National Press Club of Australia, 16 National Circuit, Barton
Speakers:
Ms Leanne Wells, Chief Executive Officer, Consumers Health Forum of Australia [presentation]
Associate Professor Kees van Gool, Deputy Director, Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation, University of Technology Sydney [presentation]
Professor Anthony Scott, Professorial Research Fellow, Melbourne Institute, The University of Melbourne [presentation]
About the Topic
Ensuring the billions of dollars spent on Medicare are used to their best effect is a key priority, regardless of the broader fiscal environment. This forum will explore a range of options designed to strengthen Medicare into the future.
Questions addressed will include:
- What needs to be done to move towards value-based health care?
- What do consumers want from their health care system?
- Can changing price signals help?
- How should Medicare set priorities for funding?
Past Forums 2015
Budget Deficits and Fiscal Consolidation
Date: Wednesday 29 April 2015
Time: 12.00 - 1.45pm (registration from 11.30am)
Venue: National Ballroom 2, Hotel Realm, 18 National Circuit, Barton
Speakers:
Dr Tim Robinson, Research Fellow, Melbourne Institute, The University of Melbourne
Mr Paul Gardiner, Assistant Parliamentary Budget Officer, Fiscal Policy Analysis Division, Parliamentary Budget Office
Associate Professor Efrem Castelnuovo, Principal Research Fellow, Melbourne Institute, The University of Melbourne
Chair: Dr David Gruen, Deputy Secretary, Economic, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet
About the topic:
Budget deficits are the financial manifestations of fiscal policies. Decisions to change tax rates and/or to change government spending should be assessed not only from a short-term standpoint, they should also be assessed in a long-term context paying due consideration to the sustainability of the debt. The aim of this Forum is to provide some background information for an informed debate about the role of budgetary and fiscal policies.
Dr. Tim Robinson (Melbourne Institute) will provide an overview of the current state of the economy, the transition in the sources of growth underway, and the near-term outlook. Mr Paul Gardiner (Parliamentary Budget Office) will present an analysis of the sensitivity of the Australian Government’s 2014-15 Budget medium-term projections to variations in labour productivity growth, the labour force participation rate and the terms of trade. This will be followed by Associate Professor Efrem Castelnuovo (Melbourne Institute) who will discuss the long-run sustainability of the budget, present some international comparisons including recent research about the effectiveness of fiscal consolidation.
Past Forums 2014
Changing Labour Market Demand and Supply: Do they match?
Date: Tuesday 2 December 2014
Time: 12.00 - 1.45pm (registration from 11.30am)
Venue: Federation Ballroom South, Hyatt Hotel Canberra
Speakers:
Professor Deborah Cobb-Clark, The University of Melbourne
Demographic Trends in the Labour Market Participation
Professor Mark Wooden, The University of Melbourne
The Changing Composition of Employment in Australia
Professor Guay Lim, The University of Melbourne
Growth, Unemployment and Matching Efficiency
Chair: Dr Subho Banerjee, Deputy Secretary, Department of Industry
About the topic:
Labour markets have changed substantially over the past few decades, and are still changing. The types of jobs and work arrangements have changed, as has the composition of the labour force. The question is, are these two sides of the labour market changing in compatible ways, what have been the macro time trends in these markets and what is predicted for the future?
Three speakers from the Melbourne Institute with complementary expertise in these areas of the labour market will discuss these issues. First, Professor Guyonne Kalb, director of the Labour Economics and Social Policy program, will provide an overview of the demographic changes of the labour force (in terms of female participation and participation by older workers) and its implications, and discuss the need for these changes to keep the Australian Economy viable. Professor Mark Wooden, director of the HILDA program, will provide an overview of the changes in the composition of employment. Professor Guay Lim, director of the Macroeconomics program, will present some macro implications of changes in the labour markets.
Constraining cartel conduct: are our competition laws too weak?
Date: Thursday 21 August 2014
Time: 12.00 - 1.45pm (registration from 11.45am)
Venue: The Canberra Room, Hyatt Hotel Canberra
Speakers
Professor Stephen King, Professor of Economics and Co-Director, Business Policy Forum, Monash University
Professor Caron Beaton-Wells, Associate Dean, Melbourne Law Masters and Director of Studies, Competition and Consumer Law, The University of Melbourne
Chair: Mr Peter Chesworth, Head Division, Manufacturing and Services, Department of Industry
About the Topic
In 2009 Australia’s cartel laws were substantially overhauled. New provisions were inserted in the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), introducing cartel offences, as well as civil penalty prohibitions, directed at various categories of business collusion: price fixing, output restriction, market sharing and bid rigging. Severe sanctions apply, including significant corporate fines and a maximum 10 year jail sentence for individuals. This development is consistent with a worldwide movement in favour of tougher more penal laws and sanctions for ‘hard core’ cartel conduct.
Featuring two expert speakers - Professor Caron Beaton-Wells from the Melbourne Law School and Professor Stephen King from the Monash Business Policy Forum – this public policy forum will canvas the following key questions:
- Why are tough laws needed for cartel conduct? Are cartels a problem in the Australian economy? What are their effects?
- Do Australia’s anti-cartel laws match international best practice? Are our laws serving their stated purposes of deterring and aiding detection of cartels?
The speakers will address the issues raised by these questions from both legal and economic perspectives and will draw on both previous cartel cases and Professor Beaton-Wells’ empirical research regarding the impact of cartel criminalisation on business attitudes and behaviour.
Creative Thinking about the Problem of Social and Economic Disadvantage
Date: Wednesday 21 May 2014
Time: 12.00 - 1.45pm (registration from 11.30am)
Venue: Federation Ballroom North, Hyatt Hotel Canberra
Speakers
The Hon Jenny Macklin MP, Shadow Minister for Families and Payments and Shadow Minister for Disability Reform
Professor Janeen Baxter, ARC Professorial Fellow, The School of Social Science and Institute for Social Science Research, The University of Queensland
Mr Michael Traill AM, Chief Executive Officer, Social Ventures Australia
About the Topic:
Current proposals to return the nation’s budget to surplus rest in large part on substantial cuts to the existing social safety net (e.g. the age pension, unemployment benefits, and family tax benefits) as well as the rollback of planned expenditure increases in other social programs (e.g. education, the National Disability Scheme, and parental leave). What impact will these changes have on social and economic disadvantage in Australia? How can we ensure that the imperative to manage the nation’s budget does not further deepen social and economic exclusion?
The three speakers in the Forum bring a unique perspective to these issues. The Hon Jenny Macklin MP is Shadow Minister for Families and Payments and Disability Reform. Professor Janeen Baxter (University of Queensland) is the Director of the newly-established Centre of Excellence on Families and Children funded by the Australian Research Council. Mr. Michael Traill is the founding Chief Executive Officer of Social Ventures Australia.
Past Forums 2013
Journeys Home and the Homelessness Policy Agenda
Date: Wednesday 4 December 2013
Time: 12.00 - 1.45pm (registration from 11.30am)
Venue: Federation Ballroom South, Hyatt Hotel Canberra
Chair: Mr Michael Lye, Acting Deputy Secretary, Department of Social Services
Speakers:
Dr Guy Johnson, Senior Research Fellow, Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University [presentation notes]
Professor Mark Wooden, Professorial Research Fellow and Director, HILDA Survey and Journeys Home, Melbourne Institute [presentation]
Dr Rosanna Scutella, Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Director, Journeys Home, Melbourne Institute [presentation]
About the topic:
Current understandings of homelessness are limited by a dearth of nationally representative data capturing the pathways into and out of homelessness of a broad reference population. Journeys Home was designed to fill this gap. Initiated and funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services, Journeys Home is tracking a national sample of individuals exposed to high levels of housing insecurity and employing more rigorous sampling methods than previously used.
This public forum will showcase the Journeys Home study, presenting its design features and early findings on the dynamics of homelessness.
Making Smart Choices: Reducing Health Costs and Improving Health
Date: Tuesday 10 September 2013
Time: 12.00 - 1.45pm (registration from 11.30am)
Venue: The Lobby Restaurant, King George Terrace, Parkes (opposite the Rose Gardens of Old Parliament House)
Speakers:
Dr Ian Scott MBBS FRACP MHA, Director of Internal Medicine and Clincal Epidemiology, Princess Alexandra Hospital [presentation]
Ms Carol Bennett, Chief Executive Officer, Consumers Health Forum of Australia [presentation]
Professor Anthony Scott, ARC Future Fellow and Professorial Research Fellow, Melbourne Institute [presentation]
About the Topic:
This forum will explore the challenge of trying to reduce health care costs whilst improving health outcomes. The health system is inefficient in many ways, and this leads to unnecessary loss of life and illness. The forum will explore what governments, clinicians, and citizens can do to tackle this challenge.
Education and training investments: do young people make good decisions?
Date: Tuesday 16 July 2013
Time: 12.00 - 1.45pm
Venue: The Canberra Room, Hyatt Hotel Canberra
Speakers:
Dr Sinan Gemici, Senior Research Officer, Londitudinal Survyes of Australian Youth, National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) [presentation]
Dr Cain Polidano, Research Fellow, Melbourne Institute, The University of Melbourne [presentation]
Dr Chris Ryan, Director, Economics of education and Child Development, Melbourne Institute, The University of Melbourne [presentation]
About the topic:
Young people are particularly vulnerable when the labour market deteriorates. One impact of the Global Financial Crisis was a substantial increase in youth unemployment globally, with a consequent increase in related social unrest fuelled by a sense of powerlessness. In Australia, unemployment increases among young people have been less pronounced, though concerns about young people and numerous aspects of their transition to adulthood abound. At the same time, reforms in the vocational and higher education sectors have made young people, as a group, more powerful. Moves to more demand-driven systems in these sectors give a much greater role to young people in shaping how the vocational and higher education sectors operate. Increasingly, these sectors will need to be responsive to changing patterns of demand among young people. But what is the evidence on whether young people make good decisions? How good is the information on which they base these decisions? In this forum, the speakers will look at what some of the consequences of moves to a demand driven vocational education system have been and whether young people in general have an accurate picture of the rewards to different types of education and training.
The State of the Australian Economy: Prospects for Growth
Date: Tuesday 16 April 2013
Time: 12.00 - 1.45pm
Venue: The Canberra Room, Hyatt Hotel Canberra
Chair:
Dr Martin Parkinson PSM, Secretary, Department of the Treasury
Speakers:
Dr Guy Debelle, Assistant Governor (Financial Markets), Reserve Bank of Australia [presentation]
Ms Julie Toth, Chief Economist, Economics Team, Australian Industry Group [presentation]
Professor Guay Lim, Professorial Research Fellow and Deputy Director, Melbourne Institute, The University of Melbourne [presentation]
About the Topic:
"In seasonally adjusted terms, the main contributors to GDP were Manufacturing (up 2.1%), Health care and social assistance (up 1.8%), Financial and insurance services (up 1.3%) and Mining (up 0.8%). These industries each contributed 0.1 percentage points to the increase in GDP." ABS media release, Australian National Accounts, December Quarter 2012 , 6 March 2013.
This Forum will discuss issues around the changing structure of the economy. Has Manufacturing grown despite (or is it because of) the high exchange rate? Is the mining boom really over? How was the resources investment boom funded?