Melbourne Institute News March 2005 ISSN:1442-9500 (print)
ISSN 1442-9519 (online)
Print Post Approved PP381667/01204
Issue 7
From the Director
Professor Peter Dawkins Ronald Henderson Professor and Director
Poverty in Australia: Insights from HILDA Mark Wooden and Bruce Headey share their insights from the HILDA data into the persistence of poverty in Australia Page 2
A Healthy Life Are the effects of Lifetime Health Cover making us all unhealthy? Alfons Palangkaraya and Jongsay Yong explore the various policy options. Page 4
Effects from the 1990s Budgets How big was the effect of budget consolidation on the Australian economy in the 1990s? Lei Lei Song and John Freebairn evaluate the effects. Page 5
Stay at Home Mums Hielke Buddelmeyer and Ha Vu utilise the HILDA survey data to discover why many mothers are unable to find adequate child care. Page 6
I am delighted that the appointment of our new Communications and Publicity Coordinator, Laura A’Bell, makes possible the re-launch of the Melbourne Institute newsletter in its new format. We expect to produce it quarterly from now on. Rather than attempting a comprehensive coverage of the Melbourne Institute’s activities, we will cover a limited number of topics in each issue. As this newsletter goes to press, we are in the final stages of organising the 2005 Economic and Social Outlook Conference, jointly with The Australian. This conference is entitled Sustaining Prosperity: New Reform Opportunities for Australia. In Reforming Australia, the book resulting from the 2003 Pursuing Opportunity and Prosperity Conference, we concluded that to sustain Australia’s economic success story of the last twenty years and also make important social progress, renewed vigour in economic and social reform was required. This would especially involve competition policy, welfare to work, education reform, and health reform. The aim was to raise workforce participation, sustain our productivity growth and increase opportunities for the disadvantaged. What we did not know at the time was that the Howard Government would be re-elected with a majority in the Senate. This gives them a great opportunity to pursue a vigorous and coherent policy program, especially in the area of welfare to work. There are still about one in seven children in jobless households, so by reducing the number of jobless households, we can raise labour force (cont’d on page 7)
www.melbourneinstitute.com Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research - Page 1