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CEDA'S POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

Recommendations from CEDA’s recent research releases

CEDA'S POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

Recommendations from CEDA’s recent research releases


CEDA delivers regular, evidence-based research across the most pressing economic and social policy issues. Our reports offer practical recommendations aimed at improving policy outcomes and securing long-term prosperity for all Australians. 

Below is a summary of our recent recommendations by topic, along with updates on where we’ve seen progress or momentum for change.
Productivity
Productivity
  
Recommendation Progress   Progress 2050 goal
Pay states to boost productivity and establish a productivity funding pool.
Budget Reset 2: Mind the Gap 
In 2024 the Federal Government announced the creation of a $900 million national productivity fund, in line with CEDA's recomendation.
View media release
  1
Encourage businesses to develop dynamic management capabilities.
Dynamic Capabilities
Little evidence of government incentives to encourage businesses to develop dynamic management capabiltiies.   1
Streamline compliance regimes that can hinder the development of dynamic management capabilities.
Dynamic Capabilities
No material changes to compliance regulation.   1
Introduce a fastracked visa for highly skilled workers.
Dynamic Capabilities
The Federal Government's migration strategy includes a fastracked specialist skills visa for highly skilled workers earning over $135,000 per year.   1 and 6
Adopt dynamic management capabilities in non-market sectors.
Dynamic Capabilities
Little evidence of progress in dynamic management capabilities within the non-market sector.   1
Businesses must build their dynamic capabilities, including through education and training. New micro-credential programs could help in the short term.
Dynamic Capabilities
Firms to take the lead.   1
More firms need to prioritise innovation over efficiency through investment in people, time and money to build their dynamic management capabilities and take advantage of new opportunities.
Dynamic Capabilities
 
Firms to take the lead.   1
Make local and state government regulations on building and land use more streamlined and consistent.
Size Matters: Why Construction Productivity is so weak
Liberalisation of planning and zoning rules is a key area of reform under the revitalised National Competition Policy.   1 and 4
Governments should help to smooth out variability in demand by creating a more consistent, predictable pipeline of construction work through their
infrastructure and social housing programs.
Size Matters: Why Construction Productivity is so weak
No material change.   1 and 4
Better align the relative tax rates for individuals and small and large
businesses as part of broader reform of the entire tax system.
Size Matters: Why Construction Productivity is so weak
The 2025 Productivity Roundtable held by the Federal Government will examine Australia's tax settings and consinder avenues for reform.   1
Labour market
Labour market
  
Recommendation Progress   Progress 2050 goal
Develop accreditation of work-related training, building on the National Skills Taxonomy and beginning with micro-credentials.
Learning Curve: Why Australia needs a Training Boost
The Federal Government is developing accreditation for work-related training by piloting micro-credentials in higher education, updating RTO standards, and progressing a national skills taxonomy to align credentials with industry needs and recognised qualifications.   2
Federal, State and Territory Governments should support development of foundational literacy, numeracy, digital and communication skills needed to effectively engage in training.
Learning Curve: Why Australia needs a Training Boost
Governments are implementing the National Foundation Skills Strategy with $53 million in funding, expanding the Skills for Education and Employment (SEE) program, and supporting state delivery of accredited and non-accredited literacy, language, numeracy and digital training.   2
Better target compliance training including regular evaluation, deploying in a risk-based manner and minimising re-training.
Learning Curve: Why Australia needs a Training Boost
Firms to lead the way.   2 and 1
Build workplace cultures that value and encourage learning, including through establishing clear links with an employer's strategic goals and integrating training across existing work.
Learning Curve: Why Australia needs a Training Boost
Firms to lead the way.   2 and 1
Measure the return on investment from training through qualitative feedback and data analysis to capture productivity improvements.
Learning Curve: Why Australia needs a Training Boost  
Firms to lead the way.   2 and 1
Standardise occupational licensing requirements nationally, including extending automatic mutual recognition of occupational registration to all states.
Skills Recognition
In 2025 the Federal Government annouced a national licensing scheme for electrical tradespeople. This is an important first step in standardising occupational licensing.
View media release
  2 and 1
Review occupational licensing regulations, considering whether they meet stated objectives, international experience and recent technological developments.
Skills Recognition
The Productivity Commission has been asked to review occupational licensing as part of its 2025 National Competition Policy analysis.   1
Reduce occupational licensing and shift regulation where necessary towards quality standards for goods and services within consumer law. 
Skills Recognition
Unresolved.  
Maintain wins for diversity and inclusion from increased use of working from home.
WFH debate must refocus on productivity
More than a third of Australians still work from home as office mandate looms
Australians are taking a pay cut to work from home
Firms to lead the way, alongside supportive government policy and public sector employment conditions.   5
Better collection of data and analysis to understand the productivity implications of working from home and inform decision making.
More than a third of Australians still work from home as office mandate looms
    1
Encourage management upskilling to enhance productivity in hybrid working arrangements.
WFH debate must refocus on productivity
    1
Strengthen corporate disclosure, compliance and reporting under the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012.
Occupational Gender Segregation
The 2023 amendments to the Workplace Gender Equality Act have meant greater transparency and reporting by employers. All employers with 100+ employees are now required to publish their pay gap.   4 and 5
Shift the focus of women-in-STEM programs to mentoring and leadership, starting in school and continuing through the transition to work. 
Occupational Gender Segregation
Government support for STEM programs and scholarships has centred on fostering leadership.
View source
  2, 4 and 5
Require evaluation data for women-in-STEM programs to be made public as a condition of federal funding. 
Occupational Gender Segregation 
No evidence of mandated evaluation data as a condition for funding.   4 and 5
Climate + energy
Climate + energy
  
Recommendation Progress   Progress 2050 goal
Reform temporary skilled migration to enable fast, simple pathways for highly skilled clean-energy workers, including via intra-company transfers. 
Powering the transition 
The new Skills in Demand visa allows entry via a Specialist Skills Pathway. However a significant exception to this pathway is that it does not apply to trades workers, machinery operators and drivers. A formal fast-track intra-company visa remains proposed but not yet implemented.   3 and 1
Apply a consistent framework to government support for clean energy precincts.
Clean Energy Precincts  
The National Interest Framework (NIF) introduced clearer criteria for government support, advancing green industrial policy by aligning public investment with national economic, security, and emissions reduction priorities.   3
Ensure all clean-energy precinct proposals have a clearly articulated purpose, with time-bound, measurable objectives.
Clean Energy Precincts
The NIF favors time-limited support for projects until market signals are established. Additionally, the framework calls for regular reviews of the sectors that receive support in accordance with market and technology shifts.   3
Ensure clean-energy precinct proponents appoint a coordination body.
Clean Energy Precincts
Firms to lead the way.   3
Government and industry should engage deeply and early with local communities to assess local barriers to and opportunities for clean-energy projects, and build social licence.
Clean Energy Precincts
The 2023 Community Engagement Review brought together a range of stakeholders to give visbility on engagement issues for energy infrastructure projects and advise on ways to improve. Following the review, the Government released new National Guidelines for Community Engagement and Benefits for Electricity Transmission Projects. Consultation is now also underway to develop a Renewable Energy Developer Rating Scheme - a key recommendation fo the report.   3 and 5
Reform planning and permitting for clean energy precints, including a single point of contact for permitting.
Clean Energy Precincts
The newly established Net Zero Economy Authority (NZEA) helps investors navigate funding programs and identify priority net zero industries.

The Government has also collaborated with states and territories to create the National Renewable Energy Priority List (Priority List), which will provide coordinated support for regulatory planning and environmental approval processes for identified priority renewable energy projects across Australia.
  3
Governments should support workers and communities affected by the energy transition, rather than businesses, and avoid policies that reduce incentives to move jobs and retrain.
Powering the transition 
Supporting workers is a core objective for the NZEA. It aims to prov ide career support, training and reskilling to help workers move into new industries. This is supported by the Energy Industry Jobs Plan.

Retraining schemes and job support have been introduced by the states like Queensland (Job Security Guarantee), Victoria (Structured Transition Agreement) and New South Wales (Future Industries Facility).
  3 and 5
The new Net Zero Economy Authority must have clear objectives to focus on the structural adjustment challenge in the most affected communities.   
Powering the transition 
The Net Zero Economy Authority has clear goals under its legislation, directing it to
- Promote orderly and positive economic transformation;
- facilitate greenhouse gas emissions reductions; and
- ensure regions, communities and workers are supported to manage the impacts and share in the benefits of the net zero economy.
  3
Governments must do more to communicate the energy transition challenge through forward-looking policies to cut emissions, detailed jobs-market modelling and clearly outlining what the transition will look like in the most affected communities. 
Powering the transition 
Jobs and Skills Australia's Clean Energy Capacity Study provided further detail around the job market implications of the transition, and climate policy modelling capacity has been re-established in Treasury.   3 and 5
Accelerating the shift towards climate adaptation through disaster prevention including by increasing allocations to the Disaster Ready Fund.
Budget Reset 2: Mind the Gap 
The Government has not increased funding allocated to the Disaster Ready Fund since this recommendation was made in 2023.   3
Migration
Migration
  
Recommendation Progress   Progress 2050 goal
Modernise the temporary-skill-shortage (TSS) visa, including reviewing the skilled-occupation lists and removing the need for labour-market testing. 
Australia’s future migration system
Jobs & Skills Summit - unlocking skilled migration
The Federal Government's migration strategy released in 2023 aligns with many of CEDA's recommendations, particularly a three-tiered approach to temporary migration. The Skills in Demand visa was introduced in 2024, with a new Core Skills Occupation List replacing three previous lists. However, the requirement for labour-market testing remains.   1
Improve skills matching and labour-market outcomes in the permanent skilled migration system.
Australia’s future migration system
Jobs & Skills Summit - unlocking skilled migration
Review of the points test in 2024, but reforms yet to be finalised.   1 and 2
Improve the interface between temporary and permanent migration, including more visa protections for temporary migrants and greater transparency and pathways on permanent residency.
Australia’s future migration system
Jobs & Skills Summit - unlocking skilled migration
The new Skills in Demand visa introduced in 2024 has pathways to permanent residence, with measures also taken to reduce "visa hopping".   1 and 6
Introduce an intra-company, fast-tracked visa with a wage threshold.
Australia’s future migration system
Jobs & Skills Summit - unlocking skilled migration
The Federal Government's migration strategy released in 2023 delivered fast-tracked visas with higher wage thresholds. Further reform is still needed to better enable intra-company transfers.
View media release
  1
Streamline family visa application process to reduce applicant costs and waiting times.
Australia’s future migration system
Jobs & Skills Summit - unlocking skilled migration
Application processes for partner and child visas were simplified in 2024, with fast-track options for some family categories. However, timeframes remain lengthy for some family visa categories.   5 and 6
Establish an essential skills visa to directly recruit for care workers, with pathways for long-term residency.
Duty of Care: Aged care sector in crisis
Duty of care: Aged care running on empty
 
Australia’s future migration system 
Jobs & Skills Summit - unlocking skilled migration
The Albanese Government's 2023 migration strategy flagged further evaluation of an essential skills pathway. It is not yet in place.
View media release
  1 and 4
Expand access to English language training.
Making better use of migrants’ skills report 
New Adult Migrant English Program business model to be delivered from January 2026, with longer access, higher-level proficiency goals, greater flexibility and stronger support.   1
Improve recognition of international qualifications.
Making better use of migrants’ skills report
In early 2025 a scheme was launched to expedite recognition of nursing qualifications from eligible countries.   1
Review the potential to give greater weight to the skills and experience of secondary applicants to skilled migration visas.
Making better use of migrants’ skills report
Review of the points test in 2024, but reforms yet to be finalised.   1
Reduce migrant labour-market discrimination through initiatives that build local knowledge and experience.
Making better use of migrants’ skills report
No federal policy has been implemented.   1 and 6
Reform temporary skilled migration to enable fast, simple pathways for highly skilled clean-energy workers,
including via intra-company transfers. 
Powering the transition 
The Federal Government's migration strategy released in 2023 aligns with many of CEDA's reccomendations, particularly around a three-tiered approach to temporary migration. Further reform is still needed to better enable intra-company transfers.
View media release
  3 and 1
Housing
Housing
  
Recommendation Progress   Progress 2050 goal
Review planning and zoning rules in all jurisdictions to reduce obstacles to higher density in areas with good access to jobs and transport.
Employment White Paper submission
Tackling barriers to (beneficial) housing mobility
The Housing Accord announced in 2022 is in line with these recommendations, although there has been little practical change yet. At a state level, there has been some progress, including in Victoria and New South Wales.
View source
  4 and 5
Improve protections for renters to make their tenure more secure.
Employment White Paper submission
Tackling barriers to (beneficial) housing mobility
The 2023 "Better Deal for Renters" agenda has been codified by most states and terrioties, providing better protections for renters such as banning "no grounds" evictions.   4 and 5
Review land tax, negative gearing and foreign-investment rules to reduce barriers to institutional investment in rental housing.
Employment White Paper submission
Tackling barriers to (beneficial) housing mobility
New Build to rent (BTR) tax reforms give owners and investors in eligible developments access to accelerated deductions of 4% on capital works relating to BTRs and concessional final withholding tax rate of 15% on eligible fund payments.   4 and 5
Federal, state and territory governments should work together to phase out stamp duties and shift to land taxes.
Employment White Paper submission
Tackling barriers to (beneficial) housing mobility
Apart from the ACT's phase-out of stamp duty, no progress elsewhere.   4 and 5
Continue to increase social-housing supply while trialling portable rent assistance for social-housing tenants.
Employment White Paper submission
Tackling barriers to (beneficial) housing mobility
The $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund and $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator will increase long-term funding of social-housing construction.   4 and 5
Continue to review Commonwealth Rent Assistance to ensure it is sufficient and reform eligibility rules to better reflect housing need.
Employment White Paper submission
Tackling barriers to (beneficial) housing mobility
The rate of Commonwealth Rent Assistance was increased in the 2023 and 2024 Federal Budgets.   4 and 5
Budget
Budget
  
Recommendation Progress   Progress 2050 goal
Build momentum on tax reform to build the tax system that is required to address the economic, fiscal, social and environmental challenges Australia will confront over coming decades. 
Budget Reset 2: Mind the Gap 
The 2025 Productivity Roundtable held by the Federal Government will examine Australia's tax settings and consinder avenues for reform. The Productivity Commission is also conducting its own review.   1
Improving the efficiency of spending by introducing a rolling schedule of program evaluations.
Budget Reset 2: Mind the Gap
Australian Centre for Evaluation established in 2023, with an aim to improve the volume, quality, and use of evaluation evidence to support better policy and programs.   1
Increase scope of Intergenerational Report.
Budget Reset Paper 
Expanded scope for the 2023 Intergenerational Report, notably around the physical and economic impacts of climate change, but the focus continues to be on Federal Government finances, with no analysis of the fiscal outlook for the whole of the Federation.   1
Modernise the Charter of Budget Honesty Act.
Budget Reset Paper
Unresolved - no legislative changes to the Charter.   1
Social policy
Social policy
  
Recommendation Progress   Progress 2050 goal
Introduce a user-pays system for aged-care clients who meet certain income or asset thresholds.
Duty of care: Aged care running on empty 
In 2024 the Federal Government announced a user-pays system for aged-care clients who meet certain income or asset thresholds, in line with CEDA's reccomendations.
View media release
  4
Address the nationwide housing shortage to allow essential workers to live near their workplace.
Duty of care: Aged care running on empty 
The 2023 National Housing Accord target of 1.2 million new homes over 5 years will go some way in easing supply shotages provided the goal is met. At state level, planned upzoning for higher density housing around transport hubs will improve access to fast commuting to work when implemented.
View source
  4 and 5
Increase aged-care award wages.
Duty of Care: Aged care sector in crisis
There have been significant pay rises to the Aged Care sector therough the Fair Work Commissions Aged Care Work Value Case.
View source
  4 and 5
Industry and governments should develop low-cost retraining options for those returning to the aged-care industry to boost skills and attract workers. 
Duty of Care: Aged care sector in crisis
The Expanded Fee-Free TAFE program and Home Care Support Program will support free or low cost skill training/retraining to increase workforce numbers in the aged care sector.   2 and 4
Establish a consolidated linked national human services data asset by 2025. 
Disrupting Disadvantage 2 
Whilst not implemented by 2025, progress has been made through the Data Availability and Transparency Act 2022 to ease data sharing and enable greater linked data assets.   4 and 5
Pilot predictive analytics to design early intervention services for young Australians at greatest risk of disadvantage. 
Disrupting Disadvantage 2
No evidence of using predictive analytics for early intervention programs.   4 and 5
Establish a new office of the evaluator-general with a focus on championing an evaluation culture throughout the public service.
Disrupting Disadvantage 3 
In 2023 the Federal Government announced it would establish the Australian Centre for Evaluation, in line with CEDA recommendations https://evaluation.treasury.gov.au/. The responsible minister frequently quotes CEDA research in his commentary on the topic.    4 and 5
Incentivising evaluation within government processes, including through legislating a review of major programs.
Disrupting Disadvantage 3
The Federal Government has allocated $10 million to establish an Australian Centre for Evaluation (ACE) to improve the volume, quality and impact of evaluations across the Australian Public Service. The Treasury now also provides a toolkit to support agencies in evaluating policies and programs.   4 and 5
The Federal Government should implement and enforce the uptake of an evaluation framework fit for application across programs.
Disrupting Disadvantage 3
The Federal Government has allocated $10 million to establish an Australian Centre for Evaluation (ACE) to improve the volume, quality and impact of evaluations across the Australian Public Service. The Treasury now also provides a toolkit to support agencies in evaluating policies and programs.   4 and 5
Improving data access and availability for better evaluation of government programs, including through the develoment of National Human Services Linked Data Asset.
Disrupting Disadvantage 3
Adoption of the Data Availability and Transparency Act 2022 allows for greater cross government data sharing and evaluation, which will support the creation of linked data assets with greater scope.   4 and 5
Improve governance and embed an evaluation culture within the public sector.
Disrupting Disadvantage 3
Establishing ACE and building evaluation capabilities are positive steps towards growing an evaluation culture.   4 and 5
Build on the shift to Workforce Australia by scaling up training for hard-to-place job seekers via employment programs targeted at local unemployed and employers, with a greater focus on long-term outcomes.
Training to reduce disadvantage 
The Government's emphasis on broader skills programs (Fee-free TAFE) have meant little expansion of the Workforce Australia program.   4 and 5
Remove the requirement for employment-service providers to enforce activity requirements. They should focus instead on training and placement.
Training to reduce disadvantage
Service providers are still responsible for monitoring and enforcing activity requirements.   4 and 5
Ban employment-service providers from referring job seekers to their own training programs, removing the potential for conflicts of interest. 
Training to reduce disadvantage
No tightened rules or outright ban.   4 and 5
Increase JobSeeker payments.
Unemployment payments 
2023 and 2024 saw modest increases in JobSeeker payments, although it remains below the poverty line.   4 and 5
Make long-service leave portable across all employers, with employers responsible for financing leave balances as they accrue. 
Unemployment payments
Beyond a few state and industry specific agreements, no federal or universal schemes adopted.   4 and 5
Increase access to mid-career training, particularly for those at risk of losing jobs due to structural adjustment. 
Unemployment payments
Initiatives such as increased commonwealth-supported university places, increased free TAFE places, and micro-credetnial programs have altogether increased access to mid-career training.   4 and 5
Strengthen family-friendly policies including making paid parental leave more gender-equal.
Unemployment payments
The Paid Parental Leave scheme has been gradually increasing the amount of paid parental leave available up to 26 weeks by 2026. This has also become more easily split between parents.   4 and 5