At a cost of A$826 million, the processing and detention of around 2,500 asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island is a scandalous waste of taxpayers' money, write Joyce Chia and Claire Higgins.
The best way to test the impact of student fee deregulation on the university sector is not to compile yet another report, but to try it in specific areas, “learning from doing”, argues UNSW Vice-Chancellor Fred Hilmer.
Public confidence will be shaken if it becomes acceptable for governments to jack up taxes because they don’t approve of previous policies, writes Richard Holden.
If the Commission of Audit wants to paint the true picture it needs to subject tax deductions, rebates and exemptions to the same standard of scrutiny applied to other expenditures, writes Dale Boccabella.
