Podcasts – Grattan Institute

Event podcast: In the last two years we’ve seen actions by Governments and others to improve the security and reliability of our power system. Grattan Institute, in partnership with the State Library of South Australia, hosted a public policy forum to discuss what we’ve learned and how things look for the coming summer where AEMO’s Audrey Zibelman, ElectraNet’s Steve Masters and Grattan’s Tony Wood shed light on how the system is shaping up.

A conversation with Transport Fellow, Hugh Batrouney. Australia’s urban commuters have little to fear from population growth, if recent experience is any guide. The average commute distances and times barely increased over the five years to 2016, even as Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane’s populations grew strongly.

A conversation with Program Director Danielle Wood, Senior Associate Kate Griffiths and Associate Carmela Chivers. Powerful and well-resourced business groups, unions and not-for-profits are influencing policy to serve their interests, sometimes at the expense of the public interest. Stronger checks and balances on lobbying, donations and access would make our politics cleaner and fairer.

A conversation with Higher Education Program Director Andrew Norton and Fellow Ittima Cherastidtham. The graduate gender pay gap in Australia is narrowing, with more women in paid work than ever. Women’s earnings generally outpaced men’s over the past decade. But the pay gap remains large – and the labour market remains tough for young graduates.

A conversation with School Education Program Director, Peter Goss on school funding. Do state schools get a fair go? How much should governments give to non-government schools? And how can we assess ‘fairness’ amid all these competing demands and all this heated politics?

A conversation with Health Program Director, Stephen Duckett. A new Code of Conduct for doctors has been drafted by the Medical Board of Australia. Entitled Good Medical Practice it covers issues for the medical profession in Australia such as the fees they charge, the way they deal with patients, and the ethics they practice. But have they got it right?

A conversation with Stephen Duckett on his latest report. Australia could save $1.5 billion a year on health spending by improving the safety of patient care. Safer hospital care doesn’t just reduce harm to patients, it saves money for taxpayers and frees up beds so other patients can be treated.

A conversation with Senior Associate, Greg Moran. Understanding the size of the costs of complications is important because it can help show that investing in patient safety can actually improve the bottom line. We discuss Grattan’s recent work estimating the costs of hospital complications and some of the challenges involved in this analysis.

A conversation with Hal Swerissen and Stephen Duckett on their latest report. Primary care policy needs an overhaul to ensure all Australians, especially the poor and the elderly, get the best possible health care. Many poorer Australians can't afford to go to a GP when they need to or a dentist when they should, and people in rural and remote areas find it too hard to get to a pharmacist or medical specialist.

Event podcast: At this Energy Futures event ACCC Chair Rod Sims, Grattan Institute’s Tony Wood and Dr Leslie Martin from The University of Melbourne's Department of Economics and the Centre for Market Design, discussed the ACCC report, its recommendations to governments on solutions and the expectations we should have for real improvements in the short to medium term.

A conversation with Transport Fellow, Hugh Batrouney. Australia is growing – and most of the growth is happening in the capital cities. So are we building enough infrastructure to cope? Are we building the right infrastructure? And are we making the best use of the infrastructure we already have?

Event podcast: At this State of Affairs event, Stephen Duckett, Health Program Director at Grattan Institute presented data on the costs of complication rates and potential new strategies to reduce adverse events based on a forthcoming report on hospital safety.

Event Podcast: At this Policy Pitch event, School Education Fellow, Julie Sonnemann and a panel of experts discussed the difficulties of achieving evidence-based teaching at scale and how to implement critical reforms, such as tailored teaching and new specialist teacher career pathways.

A conversation with Energy Program Director, Tony Wood and Associate Lucy Percival. Wholesale electricity prices rose by 130 per cent between 2015 and 2017. But governments can’t fix the problem, because most of the price rises are caused by issues beyond their control. Politicians should tell Australians the harsh truth: high electricity prices are the new normal.

Event recording: At this Capital Ideas event, Grattan Institute’s CEO John Daley and the CEO of the Financial Services Council, Sally Loane discussed the possible futures for Australia’s super system.