PROGRESS 2050: Toward a prosperous future for all Australians
CEDA's Big Issues project 2009 identified major challenges for Australia over the next five to 10 years.
CEDA's Big Issues project identifies major challenges for Australia over the next five to ten years. In its third year the concerns ranked highest were population growth, water and energy, all major long-term policy challenges for Australia and the world.
The project has been developed by CEDA with the support of IBIS World.
The starting point of the project was a nationwide survey of CEDA trustees and business leaders during October. This was followed by a roundtable where the CEDA Research and Policy Council reviewed and interpreted the issues adding their own ideas. CEDA's Research and Policy Council is comprised of eminent Australian business and academic leaders.
The top six issues identified through the survey were:
In the subsequent roundtable discussion, population strategies emerged as a key theme together with infrastructure and associated governance issues. The need for substantial new reform agendas was flagged, noting lessons from the successes and failures of the 1980s and 1990s.
On the paramount issue of population, policies that can make expansion attractive were regarded as essential in underpinning Australia's economic development. If reform agendas and regulatory reforms use appropriate structures and incentives, Australia could beneficially cater for 35-million, perhaps 50-million people by 2050. However this would require a reassessment of a wide range of institutional settings relating to infrastructure, retirement ages and labour markets, for example, which would all need to reflect longer working lives and life expectancy. While health care may be expensive and in need of reform, the extra years of active lives suggests investments in health care to be highly beneficial.
Australians are living through the most protracted period of economic misery since 2011. CEDA’s analysis of the “misery index” shows Australians’ economic misery remains high in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and is starting to creep up again.
Read more Economy September 3, 2024The principle of means testing for aged care should not be controversial as long as the system is underpinned by a robust safety net to support those who can’t afford care, such as those on a full aged pension. The argument by some that “I’ve paid my dues” through a lifetime of paying tax ignores the fundamental social compact of our system - taxes are a collective investment in our society, writes CEDA CEO Melinda Cilento and CEDA Chief Economist Cassandra Winzar.
Read more Economy June 13, 2017CEDA released a research report in June 2017 that examines the economic consequences of Australia’s productivity performance in the service sector. This report assesses the productivity performance of the sector and discusses policies and areas that can contribute to an improvement in productivity.
Read moreMake a donation today to directly support CEDA’s independent research, tackling the big issues for Australia. Click here.
(Donations over $2 are tax deductible)