Opinion Pieces

Coalition At the Wheel of a Ship Going Nowhere
10 June 2019
Originally published in the Australian.
When Josh Frydenberg sat down with his G20 counterparts in Fukuoka, Japan, last weekend, they would have been briefed on the weakened state of our economy.
It's Not Just Juggling the Numbers, Finance in Government Should Be About Communities
18 January 2019
Originally published in the Canberra Times
The Logan Entertainment Centre is 1177 kilometres away from the Department of Finance building in Canberra. Late last year, it played host to ChangeFest, an important event that encourages and inspires place-based social change in communities like mine that experience entrenched pockets of disadvantage.
Private-Public Sector Co-operation Can Tackle Major Challenges
08 January 2019
Originally published in the Canberra Times
A decade ago, a solar and battery system that relies on machine learning to make intelligent decisions to optimise energy use in people’s homes might have seemed like something straight out of science fiction.
In Budgets as in Life Generally, a Tail is a Tail is a Tail
14 December 2018
Originally published in the Australian
If you call a tail a leg, how many legs does a dog have? The answer to the riddle, often attributed to US president Abraham Lincoln, is, of course, four.
End to APS Staff Cap Will Stop Government Waste on Contractors
09 August 2018
Originally published by the Canberra Times
The shimmering heat haze and red dirt roads of Alice Springs seem like a world away from the morning fog and paved parallel streets of Canberra.
Budget Zombies Stalk the Coalition
22 April 2018
Originally published in the Australian Financial Review.
The federal budget is the nation's fiscal and economic blueprint - a document that lays out the agenda of the government of the day and outlines the policy priorities for the year ahead.
We Need to Find A Better Way Than Turnbull's Corporate Tax Cuts
12 March 2018
Originally published on the Guardian.
The big problem with Malcolm Turnbull’s $65bn big business tax cut comes with absolutely no guarantees that the multinationals who receive it will increase investment in Australia, or even invest any of it onshore.
A Budget for Millionaires and Multinationals, Not Middle Australia
19 December 2017
Originally published on Crikey.
With a week to go until Christmas, Malcolm Turnbull has made it perfectly clear in his budget update that it’s big multinational businesses and millionaires who will get all the goodies, and not Australians who work and study.
Rethinking Finance: Why Australia Needs a New Portfolio Approach
16 November 2017
Originally published by the APPS Policy Forum.
Forty-one years ago this week the decision was taken to split the Department of Finance from the existing Treasury.
Even Turnbull's Good Economic News is Terrible
28 September 2017
Originally published by Crikey.
Time and again when it comes to economic management, the Turnbull government substantially lowers the bar and yet still manages to trip over it.