News & Public Commentary
BCEC researchers regularly contribute articles and opinion pieces to domestic and international news outlets, supporting our commitment to make research findings accessible to all. The latest articles are republished here.
Australia’s housing market is cooling. Perhaps our expectations should too
By Professor Alan Duncan, Director, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre and Professor Steven Rowley, Curtin University for The Conversation. After years of rapid growth, Australia’s housing market is beginning to cool. Auction clearance rates have softened, prices in Sydney and Melbourne are... Read article
By Professor Alan Duncan, Director, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre and Professor Steven Rowley, Curtin University for The Conversation. After years of rapid growth, Australia’s housing market is beginning to cool. Auction clearance rates have softened, prices in Sydney and Melbourne are... Read article
Jobkeeper payment: how will it work, who will miss out and how to get it?
Rebecca Cassells, Curtin University and Alan Duncan, Curtin University The A$130 billion $1,500-per-fortnight JobKeeper payment will benefit six million Australians for six months, with payments expected from May 1. Eligible businesses include not-for-profits and businesses with turnovers of less than... Read article
Rebecca Cassells, Curtin University and Alan Duncan, Curtin University The A$130 billion $1,500-per-fortnight JobKeeper payment will benefit six million Australians for six months, with payments expected from May 1. Eligible businesses include not-for-profits and businesses with turnovers of less than... Read article
Fall in ageing Australians’ home-ownership rates looms as seismic shock for housing policy
Outright home ownership has long been regarded as a supporting pillar of Australian retirement incomes policies. A report released today by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) raises concerns that rising mortgage debt and falling home ownership rates... Read article
Outright home ownership has long been regarded as a supporting pillar of Australian retirement incomes policies. A report released today by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) raises concerns that rising mortgage debt and falling home ownership rates... Read article
Housing affordability has improved slightly, but people on lower incomes will continue to struggle
The re-election of the Morrison government has delivered an Australian housing policy platform based on home ownership. The recently announced First Home Loan Deposit Scheme and the existing First Home Super Saver Scheme complement first home buyer grants and stamp... Read article
The re-election of the Morrison government has delivered an Australian housing policy platform based on home ownership. The recently announced First Home Loan Deposit Scheme and the existing First Home Super Saver Scheme complement first home buyer grants and stamp... Read article
More hospitals will not cure Australia’s ailing health-care system. There’s a more efficient way
The federal government has just promised to increase spending on public hospitals from A$21.7 billion in 2018 to A$26.2 billion by 2023. Expect more hospital promises in coming weeks. There is a long history of parties at both state and... Read article
The federal government has just promised to increase spending on public hospitals from A$21.7 billion in 2018 to A$26.2 billion by 2023. Expect more hospital promises in coming weeks. There is a long history of parties at both state and... Read article
Gender equity. The way things are going, we won’t reach true parity until the 22nd century
The good news this International Women’s Day is that women are now moving through the ranks into management roles faster than men. If things continue at this rate it will take just two more decades for women to hold the... Read article
The good news this International Women’s Day is that women are now moving through the ranks into management roles faster than men. If things continue at this rate it will take just two more decades for women to hold the... Read article
Australia’s low-paid workforce a threat to wages growth
This article first appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald. Australia is building one of the biggest low-paid workforces in its history, with serious consequences for the economy and wages. Carers – aged care, childcare and disability care workers – have... Read article
This article first appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald. Australia is building one of the biggest low-paid workforces in its history, with serious consequences for the economy and wages. Carers – aged care, childcare and disability care workers – have... Read article
‘Just like home’. New survey finds most renters enjoy renting, although for many it’s expensive
One in every four Australian households rents, and it’s not just those on low incomes. A new nationally representative survey of 3,182 renters, funded by the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, finds that while 60% of renting households have a household... Read article
One in every four Australian households rents, and it’s not just those on low incomes. A new nationally representative survey of 3,182 renters, funded by the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, finds that while 60% of renting households have a household... Read article
Women are dominating employment growth, but what sort of jobs are we talking about?
One of the biggest transformations we have seen in advanced economies is the increased participation of women in the paid workforce. In recent Australian labour force trends, female participation is growing at nine times the rate of men’s. Women are... Read article
One of the biggest transformations we have seen in advanced economies is the increased participation of women in the paid workforce. In recent Australian labour force trends, female participation is growing at nine times the rate of men’s. Women are... Read article
Co-working spaces are part of the new economy, so town planners better get with the times
Cities are seeing a growing number of shared working, or co-working, spaces. They include spaces where individuals and businesses can flexibly rent desks or rooms, or do shared work in “third spaces” such as libraries and cafes. Co-working spaces offer... Read article
Cities are seeing a growing number of shared working, or co-working, spaces. They include spaces where individuals and businesses can flexibly rent desks or rooms, or do shared work in “third spaces” such as libraries and cafes. Co-working spaces offer... Read article
Driverless cars really do have health and safety benefits, if only people knew
Driverless cars promise many benefits, including an improvement in safety, but new research shows many people are still not aware of this. A paper, co-authored by me and published today in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health,... Read article
Driverless cars promise many benefits, including an improvement in safety, but new research shows many people are still not aware of this. A paper, co-authored by me and published today in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health,... Read article
Bosses deserve to be happy at work too – here’s how
We intuitively know that a “happy worker is a good worker.” But what about their bosses? In the modern workplace, managers are accountable to several groups of people, from rank-and-file employees on one side, to chief executives and shareholders on... Read article
We intuitively know that a “happy worker is a good worker.” But what about their bosses? In the modern workplace, managers are accountable to several groups of people, from rank-and-file employees on one side, to chief executives and shareholders on... Read article
Why rural Australia is facing a volunteer crisis
The small town of Coorow is located in the wheat-belt region of Western Australia, about a three hours drive north of Perth. With a population of 400 people, the town funds many of its essential services and community facilities with... Read article
The small town of Coorow is located in the wheat-belt region of Western Australia, about a three hours drive north of Perth. With a population of 400 people, the town funds many of its essential services and community facilities with... Read article
Eight charts on our growing tax problem: what abandoning tax reform means for taxpayers
As we move closer to Treasurer Scott Morrison’s third budget, what we do know is this – Australia has a revenue problem. A more global and digital economy; an ageing population with fewer taxpayers and sluggish wage growth make future... Read article
As we move closer to Treasurer Scott Morrison’s third budget, what we do know is this – Australia has a revenue problem. A more global and digital economy; an ageing population with fewer taxpayers and sluggish wage growth make future... Read article
Precarious employment is rising rapidly among men: new research
Precarious employment is increasing over time, and it still remains higher for women than men in Australia. But over the last nine years it has increased far more rapidly among men. This is despite greater workforce participation and lower unemployment... Read article
Precarious employment is increasing over time, and it still remains higher for women than men in Australia. But over the last nine years it has increased far more rapidly among men. This is despite greater workforce participation and lower unemployment... Read article
What governments can learn from Perth’s property market
Governments can encourage more affordable housing by targeting first home buyer subsidies to specific locations and housing types, a new report finds. It also suggests incentivising developers and builders to create smaller houses with more cost-efficient designs. The report is based... Read article
Governments can encourage more affordable housing by targeting first home buyer subsidies to specific locations and housing types, a new report finds. It also suggests incentivising developers and builders to create smaller houses with more cost-efficient designs. The report is based... Read article
Future tense: how the language you speak influences your willingness to take climate action
Does the language we speak influence how much we care about the environment? Our new research suggests that the answer is yes. Speakers of languages without a distinct future tense, such as Finnish, care more about the environment than speakers... Read article
Does the language we speak influence how much we care about the environment? Our new research suggests that the answer is yes. Speakers of languages without a distinct future tense, such as Finnish, care more about the environment than speakers... Read article
Using ‘she’ and ‘he’ reinforces gender roles and discrimination of women
In the face of overwhelming evidence of gender discrimination and sexual harassment, should we really devote energy to changing how people speak? Surprisingly, an emerging body of research suggests we should. Gendered language – using “he” or “she” instead of... Read article
In the face of overwhelming evidence of gender discrimination and sexual harassment, should we really devote energy to changing how people speak? Surprisingly, an emerging body of research suggests we should. Gendered language – using “he” or “she” instead of... Read article
Negative gearing reforms could save A$1.7 billion without hurting poorer investors
Reforming negative gearing could save the federal government A$1.7 billion without hurting “mum and dad investors”, according to our new modelling, by focusing tax deductions on investors with smaller property portfolios and removing them for richer investors. Combined with changes... Read article
Reforming negative gearing could save the federal government A$1.7 billion without hurting “mum and dad investors”, according to our new modelling, by focusing tax deductions on investors with smaller property portfolios and removing them for richer investors. Combined with changes... Read article
Auditing, matching pay and accountability will close the gender pay gap: study
Taking action such as correcting like-for-like pay gaps, analysing performance pay and reporting the results to company boards are effective in closing the gender pay gap, new research shows. We found organisations that completed a pay gap analysis in the... Read article
Taking action such as correcting like-for-like pay gaps, analysing performance pay and reporting the results to company boards are effective in closing the gender pay gap, new research shows. We found organisations that completed a pay gap analysis in the... Read article
Sydney the most expensive capital in Australia, Perth comes in fifth: new report
People have been spending more in New South Wales in recent years, followed by Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia, according to a new report. And while real household spending has climbed by 14% in NSW between 2009-10 and... Read article
People have been spending more in New South Wales in recent years, followed by Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia, according to a new report. And while real household spending has climbed by 14% in NSW between 2009-10 and... Read article
It’s too soon to celebrate a narrowing gender wage gap
Rebecca Cassells, Curtin University The gender pay gap is trending downward. It has fallen from 24.7% to 22.4% in the past four years, in terms of total remuneration, according to the latest gender equality scorecard. But it’s not time to... Read article
Rebecca Cassells, Curtin University The gender pay gap is trending downward. It has fallen from 24.7% to 22.4% in the past four years, in terms of total remuneration, according to the latest gender equality scorecard. But it’s not time to... Read article
We can use AFL to boost school attendance and improve mental health in Indigenous communities
Michael Dockery, Curtin University Indigenous boys living in remote Australian communities have a 20% lower truancy rate if they play AFL. This is one of the findings from our latest study exploring the benefits of Indigenous people’s participation in Australian... Read article
Michael Dockery, Curtin University Indigenous boys living in remote Australian communities have a 20% lower truancy rate if they play AFL. This is one of the findings from our latest study exploring the benefits of Indigenous people’s participation in Australian... Read article
How governments have widened the gap between generations in home ownership
Various government policies have fuelled the demand for housing over time, expanding the wealth of older home owners and pushing it further and further beyond the reach of young would-be home buyers. A new study highlights this divide between millennials... Read article
Various government policies have fuelled the demand for housing over time, expanding the wealth of older home owners and pushing it further and further beyond the reach of young would-be home buyers. A new study highlights this divide between millennials... Read article
The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre team acknowledges the Wadjuk Nyungar people as the traditional owners of the land on which the Centre is situated.