PODCAST · government
Grattan Institute
by Grattan Institute
Everything you need to know about Australian public policy.Grattan Institute is dedicated to developing high quality public policy for Australia’s future. Our podcasts cover a range of public policy topics focusing on the main issues facing Australia. Our podcasts concentrate on budget policy, economic growth, energy, health, institutional reform, household finances, school education, and disability policy.
Episodes
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Democracy: How to decouple money from power
Political parties spent almost half a billion dollars in the year leading up to the 2025 federal election. Big-money campaigns mean politicians spend more time chasing donations, and risk giving major donors more influence over policy. From next year, new rules will finally put a ceiling on money...
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Housing: Axe car-parking rules to ease the housing crisis
Every night, thousands of car spaces across Australia’s cities sit empty. This is the result of state and local governments requiring new housing projects to include off-street parking at rates much higher than residents want or need. In this podcast, Grattan housing expert Matthew Bowes talks to...
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Disability: Getting better jobs and fairer wages for disabled workers
Paid work can be a pathway to independence, purpose, and connection — but Australians with disability are far less likely to be employed than everyone else, especially those with high support needs. Many who do work are paid well below the minimum wage, some as little as $3.31 an hour. How do we...
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Health: How Australians could get a better deal at the pharmacy
Australians visit the pharmacy more than any other health service. But what's happening behind the scenes? How does the price you pay at the counter get set? How's the pharmacy sector funded? For years, decisions about pharmacy policy have been made through closed-door negotiations. In this...
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Disability: What’s happening with the NDIS?
The NDIS is one of the central fiscal bets of the federal budget. In this podcast, our disability experts discuss what the government's proposed reforms will really cost — and what needs to change. In this podcast, Grattan Senior Associate Hannah Orban talks to Grattan Disability Program Director...
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Energy: Part 2 – Managing the decline of gas in Australia
The Grattan energy team is back with a new podcast on their latest report, Out of gas: Managing the decline of gas in Australia. In this episode, our energy experts dig into the detail of their longest report yet. Joining the conversation are report authors Alison Reeve, Program Director; Hamish...
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Energy: Managing the decline of gas in Australia
Managing the decline of gas in Australia is a multi-decade challenge. In this podcast, our energy experts detail the the tough decisions Australia has to make. In this podcast, Grattan Associate Molly Chapman talks to Grattan Energy Program Director Alison Reeve about our report, Out of gas:...
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Budget 2026: The Grattan Verdict
On Tuesday, 12th of May, Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers handed down his fifth budget under the Albanese government. What did Grattan's experts make of this year's Budget, and what was left on the cutting room floor? The Grattan Podcast is produced by the Grattan Institute, an independent think…
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Budget 2026: Why this one matters
With the 2026 federal budget just two weeks away, Grattan Institute CEO Dr. Aruna Sathanapally joins Deputy Program Director of Energy and Climate Change Hamish McKenzie to unpack what could be one of the most consequential budgets in a generation. Against a backdrop of war, a global energy…
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Democracy: How to strengthen Australia’s democracy in turbulent times
Australians cannot take the future strength and resilience of our democracy for granted. Grattan Institute's new report ‘For the people: Future-proofing Australia’s democracy’, shows that democracy is backsliding globally, and the world order in which Australia has flourished is being seriously...
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The Prime Minister's Summer Reading List 2025 - Event Recording
On 11 December, we celebrated the official launch of Grattan Institute’s 2025 Prime Minister's Summer Reading List at State Library Victoria. Grattan CEO Aruna Sathanapally was joined by ABC politics and economics journalist Tom Crowley and acclaimed author Cordelia Fine for a lively discussion…
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How to improve school attendance in Australia
On a typical school day in Australia, about 11% of students who should be at school are absent. These absences add up quickly. Missing one day of school a fortnight is the equivalent of missing four weeks a year – and missing a whole year between the first day of school and the end of Year 10. On...
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How to make psychosocial disability support fairer in Australia
Australia is failing more than 130,000 people with significant psychosocial disability – despite spending billions every year on the NDIS. This gap is fuelling a growing problem. People without adequate supports are more likely to experience homelessness, be hospitalized, or have their needs...
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How to fix hospital funding
Spending on Australia’s public hospitals has increased by an average of $3 billion every year in the past decade. Yet hospitals are still under strain. Ambulances are ramping outside emergency departments, waits for surgery are getting longer, and staff say they’re burning out. And demand will…
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Want to fix the housing crisis? Build up
Housing in Australia’s cities is among the least affordable in the world. For decades, we have not built enough housing where people most want to live. A lack of well-located homes is dividing families and communities, and robs younger Australians of economic opportunity. But there is a case for...
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How Australia can expand carbon pricing
Australia will fail to hit its climate change target of net zero by 2050 unless it imposes a constraint on emissions from the electricity sector. In this podcast, our energy and climate change policy experts Alison Reeve and Tony Wood talk about the thing Australia’s political leaders still…
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Why fixing the workforce gender balance matters
Australia's workforce is almost evenly split between men and women, yet fewer than one in four Australians work in a gender balanced occupation. But why does it matter? Turns out, it’s bad for workers, businesses and the economy. In this podcast episode, host Kat Clay is joined by Jessica…
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How to build a better tax system: Economic Reform Roundtable recap
This week, the Economic Reform Roundtable met to discuss how to boost Australia's productivity, where Grattan Institute's CEO spoke on four key areas for tax reform. A robust tax system plays an essential part in creating a competitive and productive economy - but how do we balance the system to...
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Grading the 2025 NAPLAN results
Over 1.3 million students sat the NAPLAN tests in March, which provides a health check on Australia's education system. Now, the results are in. But what do they reveal about the state of education in Australia? In this podcast, host Kat Clay is joined by education experts Amy Haywood and Molly...
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Gas: Love it or hate it? It's complicated...
Some people love it, some people hate it. But whatever you feel about gas, Australia urgently needs a gas strategy. Listen to our energy experts Alison Reeve and Tony Wood discuss the highly contested role of gas as Australia strives for net zero.
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How to save the NDIS
The NDIS is a vital part of Australia’s social fabric, but the scheme has grown too big, too fast. Grattan’s new report, Saving the NDIS: How to rebalance disability services to get better results, presents a four-step plan to make the NDIS sustainable. In this podcast, report authors Sam…
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Why superannuation tax breaks need to be cut
Over decades of compulsory contributions, Australians have amassed $4 trillion in retirement savings. But behind this headline success lies a range of unresolved policy problems. The promise was a more comfortable retirement. The reality is a taxpayer-subsidised inheritance scheme. Listen to our...
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How to improve Australians' access to specialist care
No one looks forward to seeing a specialist—whether it’s a cardiologist, paediatrician, or psychiatrist. A referral often signals your GP is concerned about a serious health problem: a suspicious lump, a complex condition, or a health issue that needs specialised attention. For many Australians…
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The Maths Guarantee: How to Boost Students' Learning in Primary Schools
Australia has a maths problem: one in three Australian school students fail to achieve proficiency in maths. When maths is taught well, children and the nation benefit. But taught poorly, students are robbed of a core life skill. Adults with weaker maths skills have worse job prospects and are…
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Election 2025: Evaluating the housing policies
Whether it’s increasing rent or mortgage repayments, the surging cost of buying a house or simply finding a secure place to live, Australians are struggling more than ever with housing costs. And with a federal election around the corner, cost-of-living is one of the biggest issues facing voters....
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Analysing the 2025 federal Budget
Is the 2025 federal Budget right for these economic times? In this special pre-election Grattan podcast, our experts give their verdict. Host Kate Griffiths is joined by Grattan CEO Aruna Sathanapally and health policy expert Peter Breadon to analyse what was good in the Budget, what was missing,...
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Orange Book 2025: Policy priorities for the federal government
As Australia prepares for the 2025 federal election, our new Orange Book identifies the big reforms needed to set Australia on a more prosperous path. Find out what policies should be on the agenda of whoever wins the election – whether Labor or Coalition, majority or minority – on our latest...
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How to boost child vaccination rates
For decades, Australia has been a global leader in child immunization efforts. Vaccination has protected millions of children from preventable diseases like diphtheria, measles and whooping cough. But after child vaccination rates peaked in 2020 at around 95%, we're now seeing an alarming…
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The RBA has cut rates. Now what?
Last Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia delivered its first rate cut in over four years. For many, the tumultuous years of rate rises have felt like a cost-of-living gauntlet. Inflation has driven up the cost of household bills, groceries and housing, with families slashing their spending to...
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Why Rent Assistance needs to rise
Most Australians have enough to enjoy a comfortable retirement. But too many retirees who rent are being left behind. Today, two thirds of retirees who rent privately live in poverty, including more than three in four single women. And a growing number of older Australians are at risk of becoming...
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What are 'GP deserts' (and how to fix them)?
Some communities are “GP deserts”, where there are too few GPs to ensure everyone can get the care they need when they need it. These communities are typically sicker and poorer than the rest of Australia, but receive less care and face higher fees. On this podcast, host Kat Clay interviews…
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The Wonks' List: The Best Technical Policy Reads of 2024
Each year, our staff curate the Wonks' List, a selection of the best technical reads for policy enthusiasts. From the housing crisis to trade policy, each of these works sparks discussion on pressing economic issues. On this podcast, Senior Associates Nick Parkinson and Elizabeth Baldwin break…
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Super stressful: how Australia can simplify retirement incomes
Do you find the idea of planning for your retirement overwhelming? If that’s you, you’re not alone. Our new report shows about 80 per cent of Australians find retirement planning complicated and about 60 per cent of Australians expect that their retirement will be financially stressful. But there...
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Crunching the numbers on the Coalition's nuclear plan
Peter Dutton has released the costings for the Coalition's nuclear energy plan, proposing to build seven nuclear power stations at the sites of current coal plants. The Coalition says its plan would be markedly cheaper than Labor's plan to convert to mostly renewable energy by 2050. But a report...
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Prime Minister's Summer Reading List 2024
Each year, Grattan Institute selects its best books of the past 12 months – recommended reading for the Prime Minister, and indeed all Australians, over the summer holidays. From the history of democracy to the stars above, each of these reads put humans squarely in the centre of the frame.…
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What the Annual Climate Change Statement means for Australia
Every year, the federal government releases a Climate Change Statement, which documents progress towards Australia’s climate targets. This year’s statement shows Australia’s emissions have fallen and that we are on track to meet the 2030 emissions reduction target of 43 per cent. But hitting this...
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Housing policy heats up
It’s been a big week for housing policy. Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan both announced policies designed to boost housing supply. Our housing experts Brendan Coates and Matthew Bowes analyse the latest policies, and discuss what else could be done to…
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Should Australia curb negative gearing?
Negative gearing is back on the table with Jim Chalmers asking Treasury to model changes to property tax breaks. It's not a new proposal for Labor, with tax reform a hot political issue in the 2019 election. But at any mention of changes to negative gearing, landlords immediately voice concerns...
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Should Australia invest in nuclear power?
Nuclear energy is a hotly contested topic for the upcoming election, with both sides of politics looking for a plan that enables Australia to hit net zero emissions by 2050 while maintaining an affordable, reliable energy supply. Peter Dutton has declared nuclear a central piece of the…
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How to prevent gambling harm in Australia
Gambling is everywhere. And Australia's lax approach to gambling regulation shows. We have the highest gambling losses in the world. While the federal government is considering banning gambling advertising in the wake of the Murphy Inquiry, Grattan's latest report makes the case for more…
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How to reform NDIS housing and support
The National Disability Insurance Scheme is failing many Australians with profound disability. More than 43,000 people with intensive support packages are seeing little benefit from a scheme that was supposed to give them greater choice and improved independence. Last year's reports from the...
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Unpacking the 2024 NAPLAN results
The 2024 NAPLAN school test results show one in three Australian students are not on track with their learning. The results also reveal deep inequities in Australian schools. Indigenous children, children from disadvantaged families, and children from regional and remote areas are falling years...
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Will interest rates ever stop going up?
Over the past two years, it's been hard to see an end to interest rate rises. Homeowners have been slogged with one mortgage increase after another. Despite a couple of months of calm, another potential rate rise is looming on the horizon, with the imminent release of inflation data and a meeting...
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How to boost GPs' patient vaccination rates
Vaccines save lives. Yet the likelihood an older Australian is vaccinated varies hugely by GP. For some GPs, 90 per cent of older patients are vaccinated for flu. For others, only 40 per cent are vaccinated. For COVID, shingles and pneumococcal, the gap is even bigger. In this podcast, Peter...
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Analysing the 2024 NSW Budget
This week, the NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey handed down his second budget since Labor took office. At the same time, the NSW government is facing rising inflation and cost of living, increased public sector wage expenditure, and the worst of Australia’s housing crisis. Find out whether the 2024…
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Should Australia abandon the Paris Agreement?
The federal government's 2030 emissions reduction target is under serious threat. Under the International Paris Agreement, Australia has committed to reduce its emissions to 43 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. But the government is not currently on track to meet these levels. It's led some...
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How to reform points-tested visas
Skilled migrants contribute greatly to Australia's prosperity, shaping our diverse society, making us more productive, and boosting Australians' earnings and government's budgets. Points-tested visas account for almost two thirds of all permanent skilled visas issued by Australia over the past...
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Budget 2024: The Grattan verdict
What's Grattan's verdict on Budget 2024? CEO Aruna Sathanapally and a panel of Grattan experts, including Dr. Sam Bennett, Alison Reeve, and Brendan Coates, critically assess Australia's 2024 federal Budget. Has the government got the balance right in supporting people who are doing it tough,...
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Why Australia needs a sugary drinks tax
Australia: it's time for a sugary drinks tax. Sugary drinks are the biggest single source of sugar in our diets, and they increase people’s risk of developing obesity and type 2 diabetes. While Australian health experts have been calling for a tax on sugary drinks for many years, our new report...
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How Australia can navigate to a post-coal future
Most Australians don't spend much time thinking about the electricity system, as long as the lights turn on. But the National Energy Market (NEM) is going through big changes as it moves away from coal generation towards renewables. And Australia’s future prosperity depends on governments getting...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Everything you need to know about Australian public policy.Grattan Institute is dedicated to developing high quality public policy for Australia’s future. Our podcasts cover a range of public policy topics focusing on the main issues facing Australia. Our podcasts concentrate on budget policy, economic growth, energy, health, institutional reform, household finances, school education, and disability policy.
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Grattan Institute currently has 326 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
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Everything you need to know about Australian public policy.Grattan Institute is dedicated to developing high quality public policy for Australia’s future. Our podcasts cover a range of public policy topics focusing on the main issues facing Australia. Our podcasts concentrate on budget policy,...
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